Transcript

7.26.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Saturday,
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July twenty six, of twenty twenty five. Your reader is
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Alice Stainer, with the reminder that Radioize reading service for
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those blinder with difficulties in holding or reading printed material.
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And I will read the front page of the Washington
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Post for today on the far left, US freeze on
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school funding is set to end. Five billion dollars will
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be released after review for compliance with Trump priorities. By
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Justine McDaniel and Laura mecklo In the center of the
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front page and above the fold is a picture of
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a net being hoisted with tons of tuna in it,
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and it is entitled men use nets to move tuna
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from a fishing vessel to a refrigerated container ship in
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the lagoon of Funafuti to Valu's capital. And you see
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this enormous net where a gentleman sitting on the ship
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on the side, and a gentleman guiding it with his
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standing at the controls. It's big PNG Dash seventy one
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entitled threat to tuna in Danger's lovelihoods. Pacific islands that
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depend on the fish are seeing climate change drive them away.
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By Michael E. Miller and Carolyn van Houten. And on
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the far.
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Speaker 2: Right of the front page, Trump.
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Speaker 1: Harden's line on Hamas starvation in Gaza stirs world alarm.
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President leaders didn't want to make a deal by Adam Taylor,
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John Hudson and Karen DeYoung. Below the fold and across
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half of the bottom tiny motors Tour de France hums
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with rumors, new checks aim to keep race clean and
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a sure skeptical fans by Kevin Sieff. And then there's
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a picture of Tour Defrances bicyclers approaching the finish line
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of stage seven of the Tour de France in murder
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Bretagnia on July the eleventh, And.
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Speaker 2: Below that is.
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Speaker 1: A picture of a scanner that inspectors used to look
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inside a biker's frame to check for hidden motors.
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Speaker 2: So far none have been found.
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Speaker 1: And then on the right, next to the Tutor front's
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article at the top they're rich, anti Trump and galled
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by their big tax cut. This is by Jeff Stein,
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and below that a toddler starved to death in DC.
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Why wasn't she saved? And that's by Paul Schwartzmann. At
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first article was on the left of the top of
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the front page. Trump administration releases billions it withheld from schools.
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Lawmakers of both parties had lobbied to release the funding,
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which supports so It's English language learning programs, teacher training,
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and academic enrichment. There's a picture of a sort of
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hanging basket like you would have somewhere with their book
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bags hanging on hooks. This is by Justine McDaniel and
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Laura Meckler. The Trump administration plans to release more than
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five billion dollars in funding to public schools that it
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has withheld for nearly a month. A senior administration official
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set Friday, unding weeks of anxiety and uncertainty for school leaders,
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who had said the freeze jeopardized programs and staffing for
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the upcoming academic year.
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Speaker 2: The government placed nearly seven.
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Speaker 1: Billion dollars in funding under review June thirtieth, then released
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one point three billion dollars of it last week. The
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administration's review where the remaining funding has ended, the official said,
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speaking on the condition of anonymnity because he was not
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authorized to.
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Speaker 2: Speak on the record.
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Speaker 1: Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, confirmed the move on
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social media, saying that he pushed for the money to
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be released. Exciting news to announce all frozen education funding
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for the upcoming school year have been released, Bacon wrote
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on x Lawmakers from both parties had lobbied to release
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the money, which funds six grant programs related to English
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language learning programs, teacher training, support for children of migrant workers,
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and academic enrichment activities. The freeze was also being challenged
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in court by states and school districts. States expected the
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funding to be released July first, as normally happens each year. Instead,
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the Education Department notified states June thirtieth at the Monday
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was under review for compliance with President Donald Trump's priorities.
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The Office of Management and Budget said it was investigating
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whether any of the grant money had in the past
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been used for a radical left wing agenda. The administration
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officials said Friday that guard rails will be in place
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to ensure these funds will not be used in violation
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of executive orders or administration policy. It was not immediately
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clear what those guard rails will be or when school
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districts will see the funds. Public education supporters credited pressure
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from educators and advocates for helping to unfreeze the funding,
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but criticize the administration for withholding the money in the
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first place. Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington said in
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his statement, this administration deserves no credit for just barely
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averting a crisis they themselves set in motion. You don't
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thank a burglar for returning your cash after you've spent
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a month figuring out if you have to sell your
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house to make up the difference. Holding back the funding
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was the latest attempt by the administration to disrupt federal
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support for K through twelve public schools. Since taking office,
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Trump has instructed the Education Secretary to move toward shutting
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down the Education Department and to find ways to transfer
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some of its duties to other governmental agencies. The Education
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Department has also moved to council billions of dollars in
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K through twelve grants and contracts to reduce its workforce
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by half. Trump has portrayed the department as failing and
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asserts that he wants to return education to the States,
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but the administration's moves have outraged public education advocates, who
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say cutting off federal support does nothing to help students learn.
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Speaking at the National Governors Association Summer meeting in Colorado
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Springs on Friday, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the freezing
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and thawing of the funding was part of the transition
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aspect for a new administration. She added that it took
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some time for the Office of Management and Budget IO
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look at all the programs before the funding was released.
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Now those funds are going to be cut going out.
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I think I would think now that we reviewed them,
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looked at that process so that a year from now
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we won't find ourselves in the same situation, MacMahon told
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Governor Jared Polis, Democrat of Colorado, who was leading a
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panel discussion. A group of twenty four states and the
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District of Columbia sued the Trump administration last week over
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the decision to freeze nearly seven billion dollars, arguing that
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it violated the Constitution and federal law, in part because
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the money had been appropriated by Congress. A group of
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school districts, parents, teachers' unions, and nonprofits filed a separate
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law scuit. More than two hundred superintendents have gone to
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Senator's offices on Capitol Hill to plead their case, and
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some lawmakers worked to pressure the administration to release the funding.
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The Trump administration last Friday said it would release one
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of the streams of froz and funding, allowing one point
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three billion for after school and summer programs to flow
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to schools. Educators continued lobbying for all the money to
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be restored. This is a major victory for public education
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and the communities it serves, since Sky Perriman, President of
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Democracy Ford, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the
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school districts, and others. While this development shows that legal
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and public pressure can make a difference school districts, parents
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and educators should not have to take the administration to
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court to secure funds for their students, Perryman said. In
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its original message to state education agencies, the Education Department
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said the funding was being reviewed given the change in administrations. Later,
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an OMB spokesperson told reporters that the administration was investigating
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well of the funds have been used by any school
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districts for purposes such as scholarships for undocumented immigrant students
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or teachings on LGBTQ plus topics. The Democratic States that
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sued the government contended that the administration violated the Administrative
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Procedure Act by failing to offer a reasoned explanation.
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Speaker 2: For the funding review.
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Speaker 1: Nearly three quarters of superintendents who responded to a mid
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July survey by AASA that is the school's superintendent's association,
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said they would have to eliminate academic services for students
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if the rest of the federal funding were not restored.
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Eighty five percent of the superintendents said they have contracts
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that are supposed to be paid with the funds. In
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the question, half said they would have to lay off
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staff and teaches without the money, including those who work
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with English language learners and special education students. According to AASA,
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which collective responses for more than six hundred superintendents in
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forty three states, we are pleased public schools who will
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receive the funding as appropriated by Congress for the twenty
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twenty five twenty six school year. AA executive director David
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Schuler said in a statement Friday, noting how disruptive withholding
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these funds would be for our nation's students. Superintendents in
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multiple states told Washington Posts this week that the withholding
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of the money would probably result in cuts in their
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districts and said that they were holding out hope that
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the Trump administration would reverse course. For some, the effects
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of the laws funding would have been severe, particularly in
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areas where many students are learning English. In Marshalltown, Iowa,
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where pork plant draws migrant agricultural workers and immigrants from
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dozens of countries, the school district was facing a devastating blow,
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said Thereon Chute, superintendent of the Marshalltown Community School District.
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Chute had contacted all of his congressional representatives asking for help.
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District programs like swim lessons for summer school students started
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after children drowned several years ago. Chute said, we're on
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the chopping block so money could be moved to support
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English language and other services. You have to prepare for
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the worst case scenario, Schute said Thursday, before the money
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was unfrozen. But you're still hoping they'll do the right
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thing and release those funds. Amid starvation scenes in Gaza,
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Trump administration hardens tone on hamas militants didn't want to
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make a deal. Trump said, after you, as Israeli ceasefire
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negotiators pulled back from talks, this is b Adam Taylor,
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John Hudson, and Karen Deyong. Amid growing alarm about mass
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starvation in Gaza and the images of Palestinians suffering from
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severe malnutrition, the Trump administration is hardening its tone toward Hamas,
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blaming it for the humanitarian crisis. Hamas didn't want to
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make a deal in this week's round of ceasefire negotiations,
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and now it would probably be hunted.
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Speaker 2: Down, President Donald Trump said Friday.
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Speaker 1: Special Presidential Envoy Steve Whitkoff said the day before that
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the United States was at least temporarily pulling out of
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talks in Doha Guitar and would seek alternative options to
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end the conflict because Hamas was not.
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Speaker 2: Acting in good faith by some name.
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Speaker 1: A Hamas official set on Facebook that Whitkoff had mischaracterized
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a Hama's response that was very close to what Whitkof
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himself proposed. The US en VOIOI in his Thursday remarks
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was serving the Zionists position, Nam said. Israeli Prime Minister
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Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US announcement and pledged to work
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with Washington on alternatives. Much of the rest of the
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world has escalated its criticism of Israel, whose military operations
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and evacuation orders have pushed most of Gaza's two point
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two million people into an out shrinking fraction of the enclave,
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even his food supplies and access to them have diminished.
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But while Trump has sometimes grown exasperated with net Nyahu,
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he has maintained strong backing for Israel, often chatting the
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Biden administration for its weak support and attempts to use
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military and diplomatic leverage to increase humanitarian assistance. Roughly a
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third of the Gaza population is going multiple days without eating,
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according to the United Nations. Already overwhelmed hospitals have been
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reporting rising deaths from starvation and the lack of medical
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supplies and fuel, with increasingly shocking images of human suffering
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emerging daily. Aide groups say that the drastic decline in
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food reaching Gaza is the result of Israel blockading the
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enclave and since mid May, impeding the distribution of assistance
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by the UN and other internal organizations excuse me other
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international organizations throughout Gaza through approval delays and military no
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go zones. Instead, Israel and the United States have authorized
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and supported a mechanism through the recently created Gazer Humanitarian
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Foundation to hand out food at four limited sites located
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in military zones and guarded by US security contractors. Despite
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US and Israeli claims that the talks broke down because
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Hamas doesn't want a deal, many analysts say the impasse
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is due to fundamental differences over its terms. Hamas wants
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a deal, said Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert
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who has advised both Republican and Democratic administrations. Its demands
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are guaranteed path to a permanent end of the war
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and withdrawal of Israeli forces, the resumption of large scale,
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un coordinated aid delivery, and release of Palestinian prisoners in
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exchange for Israeli hostages.
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Speaker 2: Israel has vowed to.
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Speaker 1: Eliminate Hamas physically or by removal of its remaining senior
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officials and militants to another country, and has continued to
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seek an agreement that does not commit it to negotiating
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an end to the war if its conditions are not met.
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Miller said the fundamental incompatibility is Hamas's determination to survive
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in Natanyahu's notion of total victory, decision by Natan, Yahoo
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and Trump to pull negotiating teams out of the talks,
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which one Middle East diplomat described as a negotiating tactic
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rather than a final word, reinforces that the Americans in
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Israelis will not let the horrifying reality of starvation and
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malnourishment in Gaza affect their negotiating resolve with Hamas Milla
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said in a statement Friday, Katari Egypt mediators, along with
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the US, indicated that as far as they were concerned,
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some progress was achieved during the most recent intensive round
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of negotiations, and the talks were only suspended. The joint
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statement said, consultations before resuming dialogue once again is a
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normal procedure within the context of these complex negotiations. Trump,
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who softened his policy on Ukraine in part because he
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said he was disturbed at civilian suffering caused by Russian
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attacks earlier this year, has not dwelled on the images
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of starvation in Gaza and has not spoken at length
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about them publicly in recent days, but officials say that
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he is aware of the humanitarian situation and it is
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influencing his decisions. Trump has seen the images and he
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does not like them. Your White House official wrote in
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a message speaking on the condition of an indemnity to
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discuss the president's private assessment of the humanitarian situation in Gaza,
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The senior official wrote, that's why he directed Whitkoff to
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come up with a creative aid food program solution.
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Speaker 2: He believes it's a terrible situation and needs to end.
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Speaker 1: The creative solution referred to the GHF, the Israeli and
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US backed effort to replace the un coordinated system for
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aid that had operated in Gaza for decades.
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Speaker 2: The senior official said.
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Speaker 1: Israel charges that the UN is corrupted by Hamas. Hamas,
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which is one the Guijian government for nearly two decades,
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attacked Israel in October seventh, twenty twenty three, killing about
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twelve hundred and taking two hundred and fifty hostages. The
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group continues to hold about fifty hostages who were abducted
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that day. About twenty are still believed to be alive.
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Israel's retaliatory military campaign to eliminate Hamas and free the
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hostages has left most of Gaza in ruins in more
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than sixty thousand dead. According to the Gaza Health Ministry,
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which does not distinguish between combatants and its civilians. But
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says the majority of the dead are women and children.
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US officials have repeatedly spoken of the success of the GHF,
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pointing to figures that show it has delivered more than
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eighty million meals in boxes calibrated to feed five point
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five people for three point five days since late May,
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but its operations have also led to chaos and violence,
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with crowds of civilians desperately and dangerously rushing toward distribution points.
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Hundreds have been killed, shot at by Israeli troops who
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allege they pose a threat, or trampled in the surge
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toward food. The UN, as well as many other aid groups,
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have refused to join the GHF on grounds that it
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violates their principles and neutrality while endangering civilians. In virtual
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remarks to reporters Friday, GHF spokesman Chapin Fay repeated the
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foundation's invitation to collaborate, offering free trucks, drivers, and security
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escorts for UN convoys that are often attacked by hungry
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civilians and armed actors as they try to deliver food
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and medicine. Israel has said the UN and others are
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free to distribute food, but their own incompetence and Hama's
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sympathies are preventing it. Israel and the GHF say that
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hundreds of food laden trucks have been inspected by the
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Israeli dispense forces and rating just inside the enclave for.
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Speaker 2: You and pickup.
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Speaker 1: It's a moment for the United Nations and the entire
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humanitarian community to step up, not step back. Face said,
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Let's stop pretending there's only one way to deliver aid.
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Let's stop letting organizational ego dictate operational decisions.
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Speaker 2: The old model is broken and ours is working.
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Speaker 1: In a letter Thursday to GHF Executive Chairman Johnny Moore,
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UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher reiterated
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that the UN stands ready to engage with any partner
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to ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches the people in Gaza,
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a UN spokeswoman Stephanie Trembley told reporters Friday, but she
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said Fletcher wrote, and it such partnership must adhere to
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the globally accepted principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.
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This means that aid must go where needs are greatest
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and without discrimination, and that we answer to civilians in need,
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not the warring parties. He expressed a willingness to meet
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with Moore. In a letter of reply Friday released by
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the Foundation, Moore said that the g HF exists to
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be part of the solution, not to replace or rival
24:37
any institution, but to help fill the gaps with transparency
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and effectiveness. We are willing to put our differences aside
24:46
and to adapt to help people now. Moore said he
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looked forward to a face to face meeting, although none
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is known to be scheduled. On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister
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Mark Kearney became the latest world leader to call for
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the GHF program to end. Israel's control of aid distribution
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must be replaced by a comprehensive provision of humanitarian assistance
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led by international organizations, who said blocking such aid is
25:22
a violation of international law. US officials have strongly rejected
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the idea that Israel was responsible for the lack of food,
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charging Hamas with weaponizing and stealing aid provided by the
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UN and others, and calling for additional international support for
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the Foundation's efforts.
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Speaker 2: Of course, we want.
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Speaker 1: To see as much aid getting into Gaza as possible
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in a way that is not being eluded by Hamas
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and this mechanism the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been a
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way to do that, Tommy piggot But, a State Department spokesperson,
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said at a briefing Thursday.
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Speaker 2: Josh Paul, a.
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Speaker 1: Former State Department official who resigned in protest of the
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Biden administration's support for Israel during the start of the
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Gaza War, said that for the US government there.
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Speaker 2: Was now a some costs problem with Israel.
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Speaker 1: Contemplating the fact that our partner is now engaged in
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the forcible starvation of people it has spent the last
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two years bombing means a lot of politicians have either
26:35
to either do what politicians are worse at and admit
26:39
they have been wrong, or ignore the evidence of their
26:42
eyes and find some way.
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Speaker 2: To avoid facing the truth, Paul said.
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Speaker 1: Some former officials said that Trump's viewpoint on the conflict
26:52
on Gaza has been clear and consistent, even as the
26:55
suffering becomes more apparent as tragic as the of the
27:00
Palestinians in Gaza, President is not fooled Bahamas's vicious strategy
27:06
of weaponizing civilians suffering to manipulate the world, said Jason Greenblatt.
27:12
Who served as White House Envoy to the Middle East
27:16
during Trump's first term and had also been a long
27:19
time attorney to the President. At the bottom right of
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the front page, they're rich, they're anti Trump, and they
27:30
don't want their big tax cut. Affluent voters have become
27:35
more Democratic in recent years and are also some of
27:39
the biggest winners in the GOP tax bill. There's a
27:44
picture of Nantucket Island in Massachusetts with their sailboats bobbing up.
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Speaker 2: And down in the water, and this is an.
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Speaker 1: Affluent enclave have increasingly turned against the GOP but are
27:57
in line for major tax breaks from its legislation.
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Speaker 2: This is by Jeff Stein.
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Speaker 1: Kimberly Hoover has been the most Michelin Star restaurants on
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the East and West Coast. She and her wife, multimillionaires
28:13
from their real estate firms, own homes in or near
28:18
New York City, Washington, Miami, and Quebec. Their lives are
28:24
filled with skiing, fine wine, and long trips to Europe.
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Hoover's accountant estimates that the new tax law that President
28:34
Donald Trump signed this month will save her several million
28:38
dollars over the next few years. While many Americans might
28:42
rejoice at that kind of windfall. Hoover worked hard to
28:46
stop it from becoming a reality, arguing to law makers
28:50
that she has more money than she needs. At some point,
28:54
it starts to feel wrong, it starts to feel excessive,
28:58
it starts to feel somehow inappropriate, and at some point
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it just doesn't feel good, said Hoover, who spoke while
29:06
on a break from a Sufel literature conference she helped
29:10
sponsor in Albany. Imbalanced is really not good for anyone,
29:18
even if you're on the positive end of that imbalance,
29:21
because it's unsustainable. Who's experience reflects on an unusual irony
29:28
of Trump's signature tax legislation, Many of its biggest beneficiaries
29:33
fiercely opposed the president and even oppose the policies he's
29:38
pushing that will make them richer. The mismatch is partly
29:42
a result of a crucial, if ongoing evolution of the
29:46
role class plays in American politics. During the administrations of
29:51
Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush,
29:55
affluent Americans who benefited from tax cuts were more likely
29:59
to be Republicans, the political party they supported delivered material
30:03
benefits that boosted their pocketbooks. Democratic voters, by comparison, were
30:09
more likely to be working or middle class. Now more
30:13
than half of upper income families defined as those earning
30:17
more than two hundred and fifteen thousand, four hundred dollars
30:21
per year, vote Democratic, according to a twenty twenty four
30:25
Pew Research survey, As more highly educated voters shift to
30:29
the left, the top fifth of earners went from supporting
30:33
Barack Obama in two thousand and eight by a two
30:36
point five point margin to supporting Joe Biden in twenty
30:40
twenty by close to fifteen percentage points. Affluent Americans used
30:46
to vote for Republican politicians, now they vote for Democrats.
30:50
One twenty twenty three paper found that shift intensive during
30:55
the twenty twenty four presidential election, when large numbers of
30:59
black and latis Eno voters who tend to be lower
31:02
income defected to the Republican ticket for the first time
31:06
in decades. According to several political scientists, exit polls and studies,
31:13
there's been a lot of talk about her even though
31:16
the Republican coalition has changed and gotten.
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Speaker 2: More working class.
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Speaker 1: Their policies have not, but there's been less attention to
31:25
a similar but true fact on the other side, a
31:28
lot of Democratic politicians were elected by very rich constituents
31:33
who are more likely to benefit from Republican tax policy
31:36
than democratic policy, said Matt Grossman, a political scientist at
31:43
Michigan State University. As a result, many of the provisions
31:48
of the GOP tax law will benefit a voting block
31:52
that is increasingly democratic. The three point four trillion dollar
31:57
legislation extends a lower tax rate for the top tax bracket,
32:02
rejecting the president's suggestion of a new tax on million
32:06
dollar earners. It expands and makes permanent a smaller federal
32:11
estate tax, allowing up to fifteen million to be passed
32:15
on tax free, thirteen million dollars for couples all thirty
32:21
million dollars for couples. It also makes permanent a large
32:25
deduction for businesses form dos passed through entities, while raising
32:30
the cap on what filters can deduct in state and
32:33
local taxes parentheses. The GOP's twenty seventeen tax law also
32:40
permanently lowered the corporate tax rate from thirty five percent
32:44
to twenty one percent, and parentheses. When all those provisions
32:51
are combined, Trump's second tax bill to votes roughly one
32:55
trillion dollars in tax cuts for those earning more than
32:59
four hundred thousand per year, roughly the size of the
33:02
laws cuts to Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for
33:06
the poor, another parenthesis. Most of the bills cost, though,
33:11
comes from provisions that largely benefit middle class households, such
33:16
as a larger child tax credit and standard deduction end quote.
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Steve Lockshin, a financial adviser and co founder of the
33:27
estate advisory platform Vanilla, represents clients with at least fifty
33:33
million dollars and whose fortunes are sometimes in the billions
33:36
of dollars. A tax cut of about two percent for
33:40
a middle class family translate into about eighteen hundred dollars
33:44
per year, according to the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan
33:49
think tank, But for loctions clients, saving several percentage points
33:54
in taxes can mean hundreds of thousands.
33:57
Speaker 2: Of dollars, if not millions per year.
34:01
Speaker 1: One provision that has become particularly beneficial to his clients
34:05
is the laws expansion of Opportunity zones, which allow investors
34:10
to defer capital gains taxes by reinvesting profits into designated
34:16
economically distressed areas. The program allows wealthy individuals to delay
34:22
or in some cases permanently avoid paying taxes on capital
34:27
gains if they make investments in specified zones. The general
34:32
mentality is the same across the board of my clients.
34:36
I want to pay the least. I can also want
34:39
the best for my country, and I would invert the
34:42
two if it had a meaningful impact, Lockshin said. And
34:46
if you are wealthy but aren't pro Trump and just
34:49
along for the ride, most of my network is thinking,
34:53
while Rome is burning, at least I'll save a few
34:56
dollars in taxes. Opposition to tax cuts has surfaced in
35:01
many wealthy liberal enclaves. At the Harvard Club in New
35:05
York City, everyone under fifty fields this way, said Bob Elliott,
35:10
chief executive Unlimited, an investment firm. The classic question is
35:16
how much do you worry about it benefiting yourself versus
35:19
the societal consequences.
35:22
Speaker 2: That's the trade off, Elliot said.
35:25
Speaker 1: Many of the people who don't like the bill are saying, really,
35:29
even if I get the money, it's still at the
35:31
expense of taking people off Medicaid. Nonpartisan estimates have found
35:36
that the GOP tax law will lead to more than
35:40
thirteen million fewer Americans having health insurance. Some experts say
35:46
rich people have self interested reasons to oppose the tax
35:50
cuts that go beyond the broader social consequences. Many of
35:55
the law's short term benefits come with long term drawbacks,
35:58
said Constance Hunt, a chief economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit,
36:04
a research firm that she said is because many people
36:08
at least intuitibly understand the concept of Ricardian equivalents, the
36:13
idea the deficits need to be paid for eventually through
36:18
higher taxes, so consumers adjust their behavior accordingly by saving
36:23
more in preparation. I think there are a number of people,
36:29
some of whom are affluent and that span the political spectrum,
36:33
who realize we cannot not keep expanding our deficits indefinitely,
36:38
especially at a time when our economy is showing resilience
36:42
and growing, Hunters said, adding a lot of wealth is
36:46
held by business owners, and while certain provisions may be
36:50
providing tax cuts now, these are likely to be accompanied
36:55
by greater financing costs for business owners, as reflected in
37:00
the higher interest rates needed to combat increases in inflation.
37:06
Speaker 2: Drew E.
37:07
Speaker 1: Promarance, a Los Angeles lawyer in business and commercial litigation,
37:12
said that his net worth is in the tens of
37:14
millions of dollars, and that he will probably save tens
37:17
of thousands of dollars.
37:19
Speaker 2: From the law every year.
37:21
Speaker 1: While he said it never ceases to amaze me that
37:25
people vote against their own economic self interest, he also
37:29
said he would benefit from the bill, but thinks it's
37:32
terrible for America.
37:34
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong. I like money. I like having money.
37:39
Speaker 1: I'm not opposed to having money, he said, but at
37:43
the expense of what it does to the rest of
37:45
the country, it should not be a priority to give
37:48
me and the other rich people more money. The willingness
37:53
of some liberals to vote against their economic self interest
37:56
should give them pause before they accuse conservatives doing the same,
38:01
said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute,
38:05
a right leaning thing take. He said Republican voters in
38:09
lower income states are often unfairly maligned this way, pointing
38:14
to the two thousand and four book What's the Matter
38:17
with Kansas?
38:19
Speaker 2: Nothing is the matter with Kansas.
38:22
Speaker 1: The people of Kansas vote for a variety of reasons,
38:25
one of which is economic self interest, Strain said. Some
38:30
multi millionaire such is Marrie Pearl, who served as managing
38:34
director at the investment firm Blackrock, say they are getting
38:39
money from the tax cut, they do not need parentheses. Pearl,
38:45
like Hoover and Permarance, is part of Patriotic Millionaires, a
38:49
group of rich Americans devoted to trying to raise taxes.
38:53
Speaker 2: On the rich and Perenne.
38:57
Speaker 1: Pearl's mother in law died last year, and he his
39:00
wife benefited from the twenty twenty seventeen changes to the
39:04
estate tax. He has taken advantage of the low tax
39:08
opportunities own rules, though he does not remember where or
39:12
how much he has invested, he will probably continue.
39:16
Speaker 2: To do so now that they have been extended.
39:20
Speaker 1: It's great for me personally financially, but even looking at
39:24
my own and my family's long term self interest, I
39:28
would prefer less inequality and less of a country of
39:31
very rich and very poor, and more of a country
39:34
with lots of people doing all right, Pearl said.
39:39
Speaker 2: In August.
39:40
Speaker 1: Pearl is traveling to a fundraiser for Democratic lawmakers in California.
39:48
Every year, he donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to
39:52
Democratic politicians, which he described as the first thing he
39:56
would cut back on if his fortunes start to shrinkanks
40:00
in park to the GOP tax law. Parladded that is
40:03
not going to happen anytime soon. Going inside the front section,
40:09
I'm not going to read about a toddler in DC
40:13
or the bicycle's possible motorization in the Tour de France,
40:20
but i am going to read park gift shops could
40:24
remove books on slavery and the Civil War. Among the
40:28
books flagged for possible removal were the sixteen to nineteen
40:33
Project and a book about former Interior Secretary Deb Holland.
40:39
Speaker 2: This is by Jake Spring.
40:42
Speaker 1: National Parks employees have raised the idea of removing books
40:46
on slavery, Native Americans, and George Washington from their gift
40:51
shops as part of Trump's officials efforts to scrub these
40:56
popular sites of corrosive ideology that disparages Americans. According to
41:02
internal records reviewed by the Washington Post, agency employees were
41:09
required to report items for review last week. The inventory
41:14
of books possibly running a fowl of the administration's directive
41:18
includes the sixteen nineteen Project on the History of Slavery
41:23
in America and a picture book about former Interior Secretary
41:27
Dev Hayland, the first Native American Cabinet Secretary. Those works
41:32
are sold at the Fort Sumpter, Fort Moultrie, and Liberty
41:36
Square Park stores in Charleston, South Carolina, along with three
41:41
other books on slavery and the Civil War that were flagged.
41:45
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March that
41:50
instructed the Smithsonian and the National Parks to remove improper ideology,
41:56
which could include discussions of historical reaps, racism, and sexism.
42:02
Since then, the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service,
42:06
has issued policies instructing staff agency staff to report any
42:12
information that might be out of compliance, including gift shop
42:16
merchandise signs, educational famis, and websites. Visitors were also invited
42:23
to submit comments. This effort reinforces our commitment to telling
42:29
the full and accurate story of our nation's past. As
42:34
part of an internal process to assess which content may
42:38
require review, staff at the park can submit materials identifying
42:43
specific exhibits and interpretive panels, Interior said in a statement.
42:50
The department did not respond to questions about the gift
42:53
shops or specific items under review. Parks advocates have criticized
42:58
the Trump administrations directed as an attempt to whitewash history
43:03
that has hurt morale among park staff who feel losing
43:06
their jobs if they do not follow the directive. Our
43:11
history is complex, and as National Park advocates, we trust
43:16
National Park staff to navigate those complexities and do their
43:21
jobs without interference, said Alan Spears, senior director for Cultural
43:27
Resources at the National Park's Conservation Association and Advocacy Group.
43:34
He added, great countries don't hide from or sanitize their history.
43:42
Staff also flagged a book at the Washington monument S
43:45
gift shop that discusses the first President as an enslable
43:51
as a potential violation of Trump's order. One park employee
43:55
reported a book called While of Slaves and Servant Girls
44:00
advertisements for female run arrays in American newspapers seventeen seventy
44:05
to seventeen eighty three, saying the park is flagging it
44:10
out of an abundance of caution. Employees at the Charles
44:15
Pinkney Historic Site in South Carolina reported half a dozen
44:20
books on slavery, plantation life, and black history. Pinkney was
44:25
an enslaver who helped draft of the US Constitution. A
44:30
junior ranger children's booklet at Arlington House the Robberty Lee
44:34
Memorial will be reviewed for saying that Lee broke his
44:38
promise to serve in the US military and instead chose
44:42
to flight for slavery. The National Park Inventory System also
44:50
includes staff reports on signs and other informational items that
44:54
were submitted for review. A previous call for visitors to
44:59
report problems medic signs yielded thousands of comments, largely supporting
45:04
the parks or opposing the administration's cuts to park's staff
45:08
and budgets. Most of the items flagged by park's staff
45:13
highlighted references to slavery, civil war, or civil rights, without.
45:18
Speaker 2: Commenting on what should be done about them.
45:21
Speaker 1: Some employees flagged signs that referenced climate change, such as
45:26
a note about sea level rise at Cape Hatteras National
45:30
Seashore in North Carolina. Another employee flagged a reference to
45:35
the Gulf of Mexico and Emerald Mound along the Natchez
45:39
Trace Parkway in Mississippi. While many parks reported very little
45:45
to the administration, some appeared to take a more cautious approach.
45:48
Speaker 2: In flagging items.
45:50
Speaker 1: In one instance, an employee reported a sign next to
45:54
a statue of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at his memorial
45:58
in Washington for discussing his paralysis from polio. I recommend
46:04
keeping it, but I am concerned that it may be
46:06
seen by some as disparagement, the comment reads.
46:11
Speaker 2: Others appeared to support changes.
46:14
Speaker 1: One staffer wrote, replacement needed for a sign at Russian
46:19
Bishop's House at Sitka National Monument. The sign explains that
46:24
missionaries worked to destroy indigenous cultures and languages across Alaska.
46:31
In response to the administration's actions, a group of historians, librarians,
46:36
and data experts at the University of Minnesota at Twin
46:40
Cities has launched a Save Air Science project, encouraging people
46:46
to post images of signs to preserve information that could
46:49
be removed.
46:51
Speaker 2: Real history is not just happy stories.
46:54
Speaker 1: The website reads, he is an article of a preserving
46:59
wetlands and in Louisiana along the river.
47:05
Speaker 2: What's scrapping a three billion.
47:07
Speaker 1: Dollar coastal project means for Louisiana's future as the state
47:13
continues to lose land Advocates argue that the demise of
47:17
the Mid Barrataria Diversion Project will leave coastal communities only
47:24
more vulnerable. And there is a picture of the coastline
47:27
of a New Orleans area. Not New Orleans, but a
47:31
Louisiana area is by Brady Dennis. The news when it
47:38
finally came was not surprising. But when officials announced last
47:43
week that Louisiana was counseling the long controversial three billion
47:48
dollar Mid Barrataria sediment Diversion, the state's largest coastal restoration project,
47:57
intended to build new wetlands along steadily vanishing coastline.
48:02
Speaker 2: It felt like a gut punch. I'll go back.
48:10
Speaker 1: But when officials announced last week that Louisiana was counseling
48:13
the long controversial three billion Mid Artariad sediment diversion, the
48:18
state's largest coastal restoration project, intended to build new wetlands
48:24
along the steadily vanishing coastline, it felt like a gut punch.
48:28
Speaker 2: To Alex Colker, We're.
48:30
Speaker 1: Losing something that is designed to push back the sea
48:34
at a time when we very much need to push
48:37
back the sea, said Colker, a professor and coastal geologist
48:42
at the Louisiana University's Marine Consortium and one of many
48:46
scientists whose research helped to shape the project. After years
48:52
of studying, planning, permitting the public input. The massive project,
48:56
funded by the twenty ten Deep Water Horizon oil Spilled Settlement,
49:01
finally broke ground in twenty twenty three in Plaquemines Parish,
49:07
southeast of New Orleans. It had been a lynchpin of
49:11
the state's long term plans to fortify its coastline against
49:15
the devastating storms, fast rising seas, and sinking land that
49:21
have contributed to a crisis of land loss. The ambitious
49:25
project was designed to reconnect the Mississippi River to nearby
49:30
wetlands in an effort to mimic the way the river
49:33
once wove its way through this landscape and deposited settlement
49:39
before it was lined with levees and floodgates. The diversion
49:45
would have funneled up to seventy five thousand cubic feet
49:48
per second of water and the settlement from the Mississippi
49:52
River into Barrataria Basin, with the expectation that the process
49:57
would build more than twenty square miles of land over
50:01
the next fifty years. It would have replicated the natural
50:06
process that created South Louisiana, said James Carst, communications director
50:12
for the nonprofit Coalition to Restore coastal Louisiana. He said,
50:18
these wetlands are dying because they have been starved for
50:22
a century. Despite the wealth of scientific research and planning
50:27
behind the project, it had always faced vocal local opposition.
50:33
In particular, oyster growers and shrimpers in the area argued
50:37
that the influx of freshwater caused by the diversion would
50:41
alter nearby fisheries and threaten their livelihood. They found a
50:46
champion in Governor Jeff Landry, Republican, who, since taking office
50:51
in early twenty twenty four, made clear that he opposed
50:54
the project in its current iteration. On July seventeen, the
50:58
state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authorities said it had reached
51:02
an agreement to terminate the project, which had been paused
51:05
earlier this spring, saying it was no longer viable due
51:09
to multiple factors, including ongoing litigation and rising cost. More
51:15
than six hundred and eighteen million dollars had already been dispersed,
51:20
the authority said, but the remainder of the funding would
51:23
be returned to a trust that could pay for other
51:26
restoration projects. In a statement, Landry argued that the Mid
51:31
Barritaria project was no longer financially or practically viable. Beyond
51:38
the financial concerns, he said, the diversion threatens Louisiana's seafood industry,
51:44
our coastal culture, and the livelihoods of air fishermen, people
51:48
who have sustained our state for generations, for.
51:52
Speaker 2: Which Jurisics Junior.
51:54
Speaker 1: The death of the mid Verritaria sediment of Version represented
51:58
the end of a lengthy to fend off a project
52:01
he says could have decimated the local fishing industry. We're
52:06
breathing a sigh of relief, said Juricius. A parish council
52:10
member who chairs the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, ensued the
52:14
state over the project's environmental impacts.
52:18
Speaker 2: It's long overdue and I'm glad to see it go.
52:21
Speaker 1: But many environmental advocates of warning the loss of a
52:24
project they argue was a critical piece in the puzzling
52:28
of making the landscape of South Louisiana less vulnerable. They
52:32
say the consolation has no basis in science, and that
52:36
the local fisheries that opponents want to protect will be
52:40
ravaged over time as seeking land and rising seas fuel,
52:44
continued land loss and salt water intrusion It shows that
52:50
having good science, impeccable science, that.
52:53
Speaker 2: Isn't enough anymore. Politics still trump today.
52:57
Speaker 1: Karst said of the decision, it's going to have consequences
53:01
for this generation and future generations to come. The demise
53:06
of the Mid Barrataria Project, which comes on the eve
53:09
of the twentieth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, raises broader questions
53:14
about the fate of Louisana's imperiled coastline and how the
53:18
state plans to protect it in the years and decades ahead.
53:23
The Gulf of Mexico has experienced twice the global average
53:27
rate of seawater of sea level rise since twenty twin.
53:31
A Washington Post analysis of satellite data showed last year,
53:36
few other places on the planet have seen similar rates
53:39
of increase. Scientists have found that swiftly rising seas have
53:43
left Louisas Louisiana's coastal wetlands in a state of droning
53:48
and can devastate three quarters of the state's natural buffer
53:52
against hurricanes in the coming decades. And announcing the cancelation
53:57
of the Mid Barrataria Project, the state's Coast Protection and
54:00
Restoration Authority wrote that it would continue working to protect
54:05
communities and restore Louisiana's disappearing wetlands for future generations. Our
54:12
commitment to coastal restoration has not waivered, CPRA chairman Gourdy
54:19
Gordon Gourdy Doves said in a statement.
54:22
Speaker 2: He said officials.
54:23
Speaker 1: Would pursue a smaller diversion project in the area known
54:27
as Myrtle Grove, as well as numerous other restoration efforts
54:32
around the state, including restoring barrier islands.
54:35
Speaker 2: And building or improving levies.
54:38
Speaker 1: Even so, the scrapping of the Mid Barritaria project is
54:42
a real below, in part because of its scale and
54:45
ambition and how it would benefit other projects already on
54:49
the landscape, said Alicia Renfro, a New Orleans based coastal
54:53
scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. She said Katrina served
54:58
as a major wake up call for the new need
55:00
to restore and protect the nation's fragile coastline in a thoughtful,
55:04
coherent way, and in the years after that disaster, Louisiana
55:08
became a leader in planning for the long haul, having
55:12
crafted its first coastal master plan in two thousand and
55:16
seven and continuing to revamp those plans over time. The
55:22
mid Barrataria diversion has been part of all those plans
55:26
since Katrina, she said. With that project now abandoned, renfro
55:31
runders what lies ahead. We have done a lot of
55:35
good in terms of coastal restoration. There are some good
55:38
projects continuing to move forward. But this do set a
55:43
president that is very worsome for me. We need to
55:47
be really careful that we don't backslide at the end
55:49
of the day, she said.
55:52
Speaker 2: Coolker shares that worry.
55:55
Speaker 1: There was a lot of talk of resilience in the
55:58
years after Katrina, he said. In some ways, he said,
56:02
Louisiana has made strides in girding itself against the forces
56:06
of more fierce storms than rising seas. The system of
56:09
levees that guards New Orleans is also much.
56:13
Speaker 2: More formidable than two decades ago.
56:16
Speaker 1: Biddy also argues that the state has little time to
56:19
waste if it wants to protect coastal areas still at
56:23
risk of vanishing. That those that lie on the front
56:27
line of change, whether threats are not hypothetical or years
56:32
in the future, these places are increasingly vulnerable. Colker said,
56:38
it's not something that is decades out. It's something that's
56:43
happening today. I can't read all of this, but US
56:48
Qatar days away from final agreement on air force one gift.
56:54
According to official communication reviewed by The Washington Post, Guitar
56:58
will send it the bowing See forty seven Dash eight
57:01
aircraft as an unconditional donation to the Department of Defense.
57:06
And there's a picture of the Boeing seven forty seven
57:09
sitting on the tarmac at Palm Beach International Airport by
57:14
Noah Robertson. The US government and Qatar are expected to
57:18
finalize an agreement next week involving a jet for use
57:22
as air force, one months after the Pentagon first said
57:25
that such a deal was complete, multiple people familiar with
57:29
the matter said, according to official communication reviewed by The
57:33
Washington Post, Gutta will send the Boeing seven forty seven
57:37
Dash eight aircraft as an unconditional donation to the Department
57:41
of Defense, which will then be responsible for its maintenance.
57:46
The agreement, dated July seventh, is signed by the US
57:49
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Katari Deputy Prime Minister and
57:54
Minister of State for Defense Affairs Sowed Ben Abdul rahamand
58:00
al Thani. Still a person familiar with the process, who
58:04
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss this sensitive matter,
58:08
said the deal is still awaiting final approval after the
58:11
Department requested small updates to the text. Finishing the agreement
58:16
will allow the US Air Force to begin renovating the
58:19
plane for use as Air Force one, a process that
58:22
may cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could take years.
58:27
Speaker 2: And with this I end the reading for Today's Washington Post.
58:31
Speaker 1: On Saturday, the fifth of twenty sixth of July of
58:36
twenty twenty five, and Gary and I are going to
58:40
the Run for Recovery at Keenlan, which I am delighted
58:43
is not far away. So I close this with thank
58:48
you for listening. Please continue listening to programming on radio.
58:52
I see you next Thursday.
58:55
Speaker 2: Bye.