Transcript

2.7.26 · Washington Post

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of today's Washington Post. It is Saturday,
0:06
February seventh of twenty twenty six, and you readA Versales
0:11
stainer with the reminder that RADIOI is for those blind
0:15
with difficulties holding and reading printed material.
0:20
Speaker 2: And I will start with the front page.
0:23
Speaker 1: On the far left, Beijing accused of a covert detonation.
0:30
Speaker 2: US says nuclear.
0:32
Speaker 1: Tests justify parallel steps as arms control packs laps. In
0:40
the center, there's a picture in gold basically of the
0:45
Olympic rings above the stage for the Olympic opening ceremonies.
0:53
They are also illuminated by fireworks last night during a
0:58
star studed opening ceremonies for the twenty twenty six Winner
1:02
Olympics at Milan San Siro Stadium, one of four locations
1:08
hosting simultaneous events. To its right, US and Iran talk
1:16
nuclear program, diplomacy pushed by Mid East leaders, and protest
1:23
military build up preceded discussions. Below the Olympic picture, people
1:33
seeking to sue Ice face an uphill battle. Scores of
1:39
claims expected amid administration's immigration crackdown below the fold on
1:47
the left, and below the article on Beijing. Bipartisan fury
1:54
follows Trump clip of Obama's president post d Elites video
2:01
depicting former first couple as apes in the middle a
2:07
picture of Sonny Jurgensen nineteen thirty four to twenty twenty
2:13
six and he has on his redskin helmet with a
2:17
hoodie sweatshirt on, but he is holding a football up
2:24
on a finger that is spinning. This is a picture
2:27
of him in nineteen seventy one of the quarterback. After
2:32
his playing career, he became a broadcaster with perfect passes.
2:39
Quarterback brought joy to Washington fans. And as a student
2:45
in Maryland, Dad would come up from Richmond, Virginia, and
2:50
he and my family and I would go to the
2:52
Redskin football games and I had the pleasure of seeing
2:57
Sonny Jurgensen play football.
3:00
Speaker 2: So much fun, so so much fun.
3:04
Speaker 1: And then the final article on the front page top
3:07
Russian general shot as ceasefire dialogue stalls. Kremlin blames Key
3:14
for assassination attempt despite lack of evidence.
3:20
Speaker 2: I'm going to start with those seeking to sue Ice.
3:25
Speaker 1: For injuries or damage face an uphill battle. Scorers of
3:31
claims are expected to arise out of the Trump administration's
3:35
crackdown on illegal immigration experts say suing the government will
3:41
be tough. And there is a picture of Lee Kunkle,
3:45
a thirty nine year old freelance journalist who was injured
3:50
outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broader View, Illinois.
3:56
He's in a black T shirt with a shoulder bag
4:01
across his shoulder, across his left shoulder. He's got a
4:06
bloody nose. He's holding his hands out, palms up in
4:11
front of him with blood on him. And there's a
4:14
gentleman I can't tell him it is an ice shirt,
4:18
but ball cap, blue ball cap on with a face
4:22
mask and pink radio signal thing and thing across his
4:30
eyes looking at mister Cunkle.
4:33
Speaker 2: The article is by.
4:34
Speaker 1: Amy Britton, Robert Klemkoe, and Mariah Shaschetti. An undocumented immigrant
4:42
is seeking one million dollars in damages after he said
4:46
he was riding his bike in Melrose Park, Illinois, when
4:50
a US Border Patrol agent suddenly tackled him, placed him
4:55
in a choke hold, and punched his head. A Chicago
4:59
residence says that federal agents cost thirty thousand dollars worth
5:03
of property damage when they broke a lock on his
5:07
wrought iron gate and scaled a wooden fence to chase
5:11
after construction workers repairing his Victorian era home. A Columbia
5:18
University student and activists to spend one hundred and four
5:22
days in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center
5:27
is demanding twenty million dollars over what he says was
5:31
a false arrest. All three should expect a long and
5:37
difficult fight under the current legal landscape. Lawyers warn these
5:43
and scores of other claims expected to arise out of
5:47
the Trump administration's crack down on a legal immigration a
5:51
winding through a bureaucratic process mandated under the Federal Tort
5:57
Claims Act. It is the primary legal recourse for people
6:01
seeking compensation for property damage, injuries, and even deaths allegedly
6:08
caused by federal agencies and their employees.
6:12
Speaker 2: First, individuals must fill out.
6:15
Speaker 1: Of form and submit it for review by the agency
6:19
that they say caused the harm. Agencies such as ICE
6:24
and Customs and Border Protection, have six months to deny
6:29
a claim, offer a settlement, or not respond at all.
6:34
Only then can people sue in court under the Federal
6:37
Tort Claims Act. But these cases are different from civil
6:43
rights lawsuits, Judges, not juries decide the outcome. Awarded damages
6:50
are likely to be much lower, and individual officers can't
6:55
be named as defendants. It's absolutely bond, said Brian Rosco,
7:03
a Chicago attorney for Ricardo Aguillaya Rodriguez, the bike riding
7:09
immigrant who was hospitalized and is now detained awaiting deportation
7:15
to Mexico. If a Chicago police officer abuses my civil rights,
7:21
I can file acclaim immediately. I don't have to wait
7:24
six months to follow lawsuit. I have a right to
7:27
a jury trial. I don't have that when I'm up against.
7:31
Speaker 2: The federal government.
7:32
Speaker 1: It's scary to me how protected these federal agents are.
7:38
After the Civil War, Congress passed a law that established
7:42
the right to sue local and state officials for the
7:45
violation of constitutional rights.
7:48
Speaker 2: Federal officials weren't included.
7:50
Speaker 1: In the law, though a nineteen seventy one Supreme Court
7:53
ruling established precedents for such lawsuits. But the legal expert
7:59
said that the Court's decisions within the past decade have
8:03
narrowed that path and made it nearly impossible to successfully
8:08
sue federal agents for civil rights violations. It is arguably
8:14
harder today, in twenty twenty sixth and at any other
8:18
time in American history, to sue federal officials for money
8:23
damages if they violate your constitutional rights, said Harrison Stark,
8:29
Senior Council at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the
8:34
University of Wisconsin Law School. Relatives of both Renee Good
8:39
and Alex Pitty, Minneapolis residents who were fatally shot in
8:44
separate encounters by federal immigration officers in January, have hired attorneys.
8:50
In a statement, Romannucci and Blandon, the law firm obtained
8:56
by Goods family, said it's pursuing a tour claim and
9:00
would not be deterred by the byzantine, time consuming process
9:07
mandated by the Federal Tort Claims Act. The attorney hired
9:12
by Pretty's parents did not respond to her request for comment.
9:17
And then there's a picture of a card with images
9:21
of both Pretty and Good at a makeshift memorial in Minneapolis.
9:26
Those two are on a card. There are flowers in front,
9:30
some tulips, some roses, eucalyptus leaves, a daisy, and maps
9:38
and sign.
9:40
Speaker 2: I can't read the sign.
9:43
Speaker 1: An ICE spokesperson said the agency received four hundred tort
9:48
claims in physical twenty twenty five, which ended September thirtieth,
9:52
but did not provide a breakdown of how many resulted
9:56
in settlements or denials. Despite facing a more than thirteen
10:04
hundred percent increase in assaults against them, eight thousand percent
10:11
increase in death threats, and a thirty two hundred percent
10:16
increase in vehicle rammings, the men and women of ICE
10:21
continue working around the clock to arrest and remove the
10:26
worst of the worst criminals aliens from the United States,
10:31
I said in an email statement. The Washington Post did
10:35
not independently verify these numbers. A US Customs and Voter
10:42
Protection spokesperson declined to provide data about the number of
10:47
torts claims the agency received last year. Rioters and agitators
10:53
have created an extraordinary amount of damage to public and
10:56
private property, not to mention the harm they have put
10:59
our officers and the public inn We expect these agitators
11:04
will be held responsible for their actions, a c BP
11:09
spokesperson said in a statement. Spokespeople for ICE and CBP
11:15
declined to comment on individual claims described in this story.
11:20
They broadly said their agencies adhere to the federal Tort
11:23
Claims Act, a significant settlement is not impossible. The estate
11:30
of Ashley Bebbett, the woman who was shot and killed
11:33
on January sixth, twenty twenty one, during the US Capital Riot,
11:39
filed a tort lawsuit and reached a nearly five million
11:43
dollars settlement with the government. But the challenges of navigating
11:48
the Federal Tort Claims Act coupled with an anticipated rise
11:53
in claims as violent encounters continuing cities across the United
11:57
States have put pressure on Congress to pass legislation to
12:02
allow civil rights lawsuits against federal officers and agents. Such
12:08
an effort would probably face pushback, expert said. Several years ago,
12:13
the National Border Patrol Council, a union that represents border
12:18
patrol agents, warned the Supreme Court of the potentially massive
12:23
financial impact that would occur if thousands of its agents
12:27
were exposed to liability for personal damages. Not very hopeful,
12:36
Leo Feller said he ran into telligence as soon as
12:40
he decided to pursue a tort claim for one thing,
12:44
he wasn't sure where to send it. Fella didn't know
12:47
which federal agency employed the masked men who came to
12:51
his Chicago home on October twenty fourth. Fella, a forty
12:56
six year old economist, said he wasn't there at the time,
13:00
but he received a notification from his ring security camera
13:04
some iron was on his property. A construction crew had
13:08
been repairing the windows and sighting of his home in
13:11
the affluent Lakeview neighborhood. As the workers ate lunch outside,
13:18
armed men in green uniforms jumped from two vehicles and
13:23
tried to break the locks on the gates of a
13:25
nearly six foot high wrought iron fence, according to Fellow,
13:30
who reviewed security camera footage of the incident and a
13:34
video taken by a neighbor, the agents, Fella said, had
13:39
scaled a wooden fence alongside of his house and hopped
13:43
onto his balcony in pursuit of the fleeing workers. One
13:48
worker was injured as he scrambled through a construction site
13:52
littered with wood and nails, Fellas said, leaving a trail
13:57
of blood in the home. Another worker was detained, he said.
14:03
Vellas had a tenant who rented a unit on his
14:05
property asked the officers to provide a warrant that authorized
14:10
the raid, but they refused to do so. Through his
14:13
ring camera's intercom system. Villa told the agents that they
14:17
were trespassing and needed to leave, but they ignored.
14:20
Speaker 2: Him, he said. Phila latest sought legal advice.
14:28
Speaker 1: Attorneys told him he could file a torte claim for damages.
14:32
Unsure which agencies had come to his house. Phili sent
14:36
the paperwork for his tort claim in December to ICE,
14:39
Customs and Water Protection and the Department of Homeland Security.
14:45
He described the damage to his property, including his locks
14:50
and fence, and he also wrote that the agents robbed
14:54
me and my family of the feeling of security we
14:57
once enjoyed in my home. His tenant was afraid and
15:02
asked to break her lease early, which Fella said he
15:06
agreed to do. Overall, Fellow estimated thirty thousand dollars in
15:11
damage to his property. He said he is not very
15:16
hopeful that he will receive payment if.
15:19
Speaker 2: His claim is denied.
15:20
Speaker 1: He said he and his attorneys will pursue a lawsuit
15:23
under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Others caught up an
15:28
operation Midway Blitz, the administration's emigration and enforcement actions in
15:34
the Chicago area last fall.
15:37
Speaker 2: Olso said they expect.
15:38
Speaker 1: It would be difficult to recover alleged damages. Lee Councle,
15:44
a thirty nine year old freelance journalist, the one whose
15:47
picture are described, said she was documenting federal agents shooting
15:52
pepper balls at protesters in late September outside an ice
15:57
facility in broad View, Illinois. An agent then aimed the
16:02
weapon at her and fired pepper balls, she said, striking
16:06
her in the back of the head and the nose
16:08
and leaving her bloodied. A week later, her fiancee, Khli Frankovitch,
16:15
also was protesting in broad View, within an area that
16:19
he said state police monitoring the scene had disignated a
16:23
free speech zone. Federal officials, including Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino,
16:30
emerged from the ice facility and began arresting protesters. According
16:34
to video footage, Frankovitch, forty one, said he showed no
16:39
aggression toward agents. Nevertheless, he said they took him to
16:42
the ground and put him in handcuffs. They later lined
16:46
him up with other detainees along a guard rail near
16:49
the facility. The scene served as a backdrop to a
16:53
Department of Homeland Security promotional video featuring Christie Secretary Christie
16:59
ill Known.
17:00
Speaker 2: He said he was detained for eight.
17:02
Speaker 1: Hours before a federal agent dropped him off at a
17:04
nearby gas station.
17:06
Speaker 2: Frankovich has not been charged for the crime.
17:10
Speaker 1: Antonio Romanucci, a civil rights lawyer and founding partner at
17:14
the Chicago based firm representing Renee Goods family, said his
17:20
office plans to file federal tort claims for Councole and Frankovinch.
17:25
The couple said they understood the path may be long
17:28
and that case could be unsuccessful while also exposing them
17:32
to public scrutiny. Ultimately, we landed on the feeling that
17:37
we are privileged enough to have the opportunity to fight
17:40
back against this as citizens, Councle said, adding and that
17:46
if we can do that, if this is one little
17:49
way that we can push back, that we should pushing
17:53
for change. Previous efforts to change the federal law have
17:57
failed to gain. Traction law was signed by President Ulysses S.
18:03
Grant in eighteen seventy one, established the statutory right to
18:08
sue local or state officials for constitutional violations. Nearly two
18:14
years ago, a group of US lawmakers introduced draft legislation
18:19
that would have amended that law by inserting just four
18:23
words all the United States and established the right to
18:28
sue federal officials as well, but the effort failed.
18:34
Speaker 2: It's a somewhat complicated.
18:36
Speaker 1: Area of law across different jurisdictions, but I didn't see
18:41
any huge partisan issues, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode
18:48
Island said of the challenges in garnering support for.
18:52
Speaker 2: The bill, which he sponsored.
18:55
Speaker 1: Whitehouse said there was a lack of urgency at the time,
18:58
even though the Supreme Court had more or less strangled
19:02
the legal pathway that had been used since the nineteen
19:05
seventies to sue federal officials for civil rights violations. Last fall,
19:11
white House and Representative Hank Johnson, Democrat of.
19:16
Speaker 2: Georgia, reintroduced the measure.
19:19
Speaker 1: Legal experts told the Posts they think it is unlikely
19:22
to pass, citing anticipated concerns about exposing federal law enforcement
19:28
officers to personal liability. A handful of states already have
19:34
laws that authorize claims against federal officials for the violation
19:39
of constitutional rights, including New Jersey and Massachusetts, although the
19:45
law may not be enforceable in New Jersey became of
19:50
appeals court ruling. According to research compiled by Stark of
19:55
the University of Wisconsin Law School and other states are
20:01
scrambling to draft similar bills. Last week, the California Senate
20:07
passed the No Kings Act to allow civil rights lawsuits
20:12
against federal offices.
20:14
Speaker 2: The measure will head.
20:15
Speaker 1: To the state Assembly next In Colorado, state Senator Mike Weissman, Democrat,
20:23
recently introduced a similar bill. He described talking with state
20:27
legislatives in Washington, New Mexico, and Virginia to exchange ideas,
20:33
and in Minnesota, state Representative Jamie Long, a Democrat whose
20:39
district includes part of Minneapolis, has drafted such a bill
20:43
for the legislative session that begins later this month. We
20:48
know that there is evidence of these severe constitutional violations happening,
20:54
and that's why we think it's appropriate to create this
20:57
state remedy. Long said such measures are likely to be challenged.
21:03
The US Justice Department has already sued Illinois, alleging that
21:08
its new law authorizes civil rights claims against federal offices
21:13
in an unconstitutional attempt to regulate federal law enforcement officers.
21:20
In the meantime, those who say they have sustained property
21:24
damage or injuries during immigration enforcement efforts and their attorneys
21:29
are continuing to press lawmakers to enable them to sue
21:33
federal offices. Christopher Parente, a Chicago based lawyer, is representing
21:38
mir Mar Martinez, a thirty year old teacher's assistant who
21:43
is shot five times by a Border patrol agent in
21:46
October and survived. In an interview with The Post, her
21:51
attorney said he thinks that Congress should change the law. Parente,
21:56
a former federal prosecutor who plans to file a torquel
22:00
on Martinez's behalf, said there is no deterrence.
22:05
Speaker 2: In fact, these agents.
22:06
Speaker 1: Are embraced and celebrated by this administration and their colleagues,
22:12
a chilling effect. Peoples seeking compensation from the federal government
22:17
may face another roadblock finding an attorney to take their case.
22:23
I've met people who spend the entire Statute of Limitations period,
22:29
which is generally two years, looking for attorneys to represent
22:33
them in cases against the federal government or federal officials
22:37
and not being able to find them, said Anya Bidwell,
22:41
senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law
22:46
firm based in the DC area. Bidwell said many attorneys
22:51
are deterred from taking federal tort claims that cases because
22:56
the government often invokes a very broad immunity that their
23:01
courts traditionally interpret to pretty much swallow any of the
23:06
claims that involved any kind of a judgment or choice
23:11
on behalf of an officer. In other words, many cases
23:16
are dismissed. Bidwell said even getting to trial is extremely difficult.
23:22
Some people who consider following claims ultimately decide not to,
23:28
discouraged by the long and difficult process. In Minneapolis, Gina Christ,
23:35
a fifty five year old business manager, contacted a lawyer
23:39
to challenge what she described as an unlawful attention, but
23:44
the attorney she met with told her assuming the government
23:47
would be very, very difficult.
23:50
Speaker 2: Chris said.
23:54
Speaker 1: Christ had driven to a protest that began after Border
23:57
patrol agents allegedly tried to arrest a pair of Latino teens.
24:02
Speaker 2: She said she parked along the side of the street.
24:04
Speaker 1: To observe the agents not to obstruct them. Chris said
24:09
she was soon surrounded by agents and protesters. Agents yelled
24:13
at her to move before smashing the window of her
24:16
forward escape. They opened the door, pulled her out of
24:20
the car, and held her face down on the pavement.
24:23
Speaker 2: She said.
24:24
Speaker 1: Agents restrained her rifts with plastic zipties. Chris said while
24:30
her eyes and throat burned from tear gas fired into
24:33
the nearby crowd. Authorities took her to a federal building
24:37
for processing, she said, and placed her in metal arm
24:41
and leg shackles. She said they walked her to a
24:44
folding table where there was a makeshift sign with the
24:47
criminal code for assaulting an officer. They told her she
24:51
would face charges and took her finger tips and a
24:55
DNA swab. Chris said she spent nearly four hours in
24:59
cuts to de before she was released. She hasn't been
25:03
charged with a crime. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson
25:08
did not answer questions about the agency's interaction with christ.
25:13
After weighing the difficulty of pursuing a torte claim, Chris
25:17
said she plans to pay to fix her window herself.
25:21
Given what others have lost, she said, it seems too
25:25
small to pursue. Trump shares then the leads video depicting
25:33
Obama as apes. Tim Scott, the sole black Republican in
25:39
the Senate, called it the most racist thing I've seen
25:44
out of this White House. By Megan Vasquez, a video
25:50
on President Donald Trump's truth social profile that included a
25:55
short clip depicting former President Barack Obama and former First
26:00
Lady Michelle Obama as Apes has been deleted from his account,
26:05
hours after the White has defended the President for sharing it.
26:10
The clip, shared on the President's account, which has more
26:13
than eleven million online followers, was posted Thursday night. The
26:19
moment featuring the Obamas came at the end of a
26:23
minute long video promoting conspiracy theories about the tabulation of
26:29
the twenty twenty presidential election results. The segment showed the
26:33
Obama's faces superimposed on to the bodies of Apes as
26:39
the Lions Leaps Tonight played in the background. The post
26:45
was swiftly condemned Friday morning by Republicans in Congress, including
26:50
Senator Tim Scott South Carolina, the sole black Republican member
26:55
of the Senate. Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial
26:59
Comus Midi, called on the President to remove the post
27:03
and said he was praying the video was fake because
27:08
it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this
27:10
White House before the removal of the post. When asked
27:14
why the President felt it was important to share the
27:17
video online given that the depiction of African Americans as
27:22
Apes is widely understood to be a racist trope. White
27:26
House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt wrote in his statement, this
27:31
is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as
27:35
King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the
27:38
Lion King. Please stop the fake outage and report it
27:43
at rage and reported something today that actually matters to
27:47
the American public. She added the clip depicting the Obamas
27:53
as the apes appeared to be part of a longer
27:56
animation dating back to at least October, depicting Trump as
28:01
a lion and several high profile Democrats as jungle animals.
28:05
The video concludes with the animals bowing to Trump as
28:09
a lion.
28:10
Speaker 2: Parenthesis. A representative of the.
28:13
Speaker 1: Obamas did not immediately respond to her request for a comment,
28:17
and Perenne Scott was not the only Republican in Congress
28:22
to call for removal of the video. Representative Michael Law,
28:27
Republican of New York, wrote Friday morning in a post
28:30
on X that Trump's post is wrong and incredibly offensive,
28:35
whether intentional or a mistake, and should be deleted immediately
28:40
with an apology offered. Senator Pete Ricketts, Republic of Nevaska
28:46
wrote on X that even if the post was a
28:49
meme a reasonable person sees the racist context. Senator Roger Wicker,
28:56
Republican of Mississippi called the video totally unacceptable. Has Minority
29:03
Leader Hakim Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the first
29:07
black person to lead a party in the host responded
29:11
to the video of the Obamas by referring to Trump
29:15
as a file unhinged, a malignant bottom feedom. He called
29:21
on every single Republican to the nuns Generald Trump's disgusting bigotry.
29:28
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York
29:33
said Trump must immediately delete the post and apologize. Senator
29:41
Raphael G. Warnick, Democrat of Georgia, the first African American
29:46
elected to represent Georgia in the Senate, said Trump is
29:51
trying to summon our country's darkest demons to further divide
29:55
us with the video and that our nation the spiritual
30:00
root is coming from the White House. The clip, shared
30:05
in the middle of Black History Month, was one of
30:08
several posted to Trump's account overnight. Other posts included an
30:13
eight minute long video reposting another user of the social
30:17
media platform, who said it was aimed to educate viewers
30:23
on black conservative history all February a different commentary video
30:28
called the Democratic.
30:29
Speaker 2: Party Anti Black.
30:33
Speaker 1: The NAACP wrote in a social media post that Trump
30:36
sharing the clip of the Obamas, especially in the middle
30:40
of Black History Month, is a stark reminder of how
30:43
Trump and his followers truly viewed people, and we'll remember
30:47
that in November Trump made games with minority groups. During
30:52
the twenty twenty four presidential election, Trump won about fifteen
30:57
percent of the black vote, roughly doubling his share from
31:01
four years earlier and garnering the largest share of the
31:05
black vote of any Republican presidential candidate in at least
31:09
a quarter century. Since taking office, however, his approval rating
31:14
among Black Americans has dropped. Trump has long been accused
31:19
of deploying racially insensitive language and perpetuating racist stereotypes. On
31:25
the twenty twenty four campaign trail, Trump said his opponent
31:29
Kamala Harris was Indian all the way before all of
31:34
a sudden, she made a turn and became a black person.
31:39
He has also repeatedly questioned the intelligence of several high
31:42
profile black women, including Representative Harris, Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat
31:50
of California, and several journalists. He referred to one of
31:54
his former staffers, Omarasa Man Nigold Newman as a dog.
32:01
More recently, Trump has shared an AI generated meme of
32:05
Jeffreys with a superimposed sombrero and mustache, accusing Democratic leaders
32:11
of wanting to provide undocumented immigrants with free healthcare during
32:17
last year's government shutdown. The video was played on a
32:21
loop on a video monitor inside the White House briefing room.
32:28
Let's turn to something less heavy. Winter Olympics spread across
32:33
North Italy open with Milanese flail. The opening ceremonies of
32:39
the twenty twenty six Winter Olympics featured four simultaneous events
32:44
in four locations, marking what organizers said was the most
32:49
spread out games in history.
32:52
Speaker 2: And here is a picture with a purple backlighting.
32:58
Speaker 1: And her in a an incredibly beautiful white gown with.
33:04
Speaker 2: Silver chevrons all the way through it.
33:07
Speaker 1: It's just v right up to her navel and then
33:11
continuing on up to the top of her bodice and
33:15
around her waist, with a neat fur wrap around her
33:20
her long blonde hair.
33:22
Speaker 2: She's holding a microphone.
33:24
Speaker 1: Mariah Carey performs during the open opening ceremonies of the
33:29
Milan Courtina twenty twenty six Winter Olympics at Sansero Stadium
33:34
on Friday in Milan by Anthony Faola, Rick Mays and
33:41
Stefano Petrelli. Milan, Mariah Carey sang Bolout through the Tuscan
33:50
tenna Andrea Bocelli brought down the house. Oh take it back,
33:57
Maria Carey sang Vollai. Though the Tuscan tenna Andrea Broceli
34:04
brought down the house. There were brightly colored Roman legions,
34:10
espresso pots and Pinocchio's opera and europop. They nodded to
34:15
Armani Da Vinci and astrophysitist Margherita Hack. There was Italian
34:22
rap and comedy, thankfully not at the same time. The
34:27
opening ceremonies of the twenty twenty six Olympic Games marked
34:31
it first, with not just one, but four simultaneous events
34:36
unfolding in four locations to mark what organizers call the
34:40
most spread out Olympic Games in history. The single largest
34:45
of the events, a star studied spectacular at Milan Sansero
34:50
Stadium dubbed the Lascala Osaco, was a postcard of resilience
34:56
from Lombardi, the northern province that became as of Italy's
35:01
strategically high pandemic death toll and not only persevered but thrived.
35:07
It may also be the swan song for the Vermilion
35:10
beam topped Sansiero, a storied venue that is set to
35:15
be torn down in an era of division. The opening
35:20
ceremonies portrayed a theme of harmony, highlighting inclusion at a
35:25
moment of nativism, an international fraternity at a time of
35:30
belligerence and war. It conveyed a world of mut mutual
35:35
respect that the peace loving nations wish for war rather
35:39
than the world of conflict that exists. But in its
35:42
broadest sense, that's what the Olympics are about.
35:46
Speaker 2: Ideals At a.
35:49
Speaker 1: Time when so much to the world is divided by conflict,
35:53
your very presence demonstrates that another world is possible, one
35:57
of unity, respect and harmony, declared Giovanni Milago, president of
36:04
the Milan Cortina twenty twenty six Winter Olympics Organizing Committee.
36:09
On Friday night, the main stage at Sansuro hosted a
36:13
fantasia of swirling white sidewalks with models of statuary housed
36:19
in oversized cases, offering a taste of italianate things to come.
36:26
It was served in abondanza abundance. The roughly seventy six
36:33
thousand seat stadium, reduced to sixty thousand for the opening ceremonies,
36:39
still had what appeared to be thousands of empty seats
36:42
as the ceremony commenced at eight p m Local time,
36:46
when pastoral Alpine scenes and the spies of Milan's Duomo
36:52
graced large screens and lights erupted. You see pictures of
36:58
the oversized cases with their dancers in it. Dancers like
37:04
living statues, including La Scala's Claudio Covelli and Antonello Albano,
37:12
leaped gracefully through the opening set that paid homage to
37:16
the Italian sculptor Canovo. Brilliantly colored fabrics spilled from gigantic
37:23
overhead paint tubes.
37:25
Speaker 2: That was really cool.
37:26
Speaker 1: They just looked like huge toothpaste tubes with yellow and
37:32
blue and red pouring out of them. There was opera
37:37
and disco and gold lamet Parane the last to anad
37:41
to the Italian song Christ and LGBTQ plus Ala Rafael
37:47
Acara in Peran. Laura Posini, the Grammy and women singer
37:54
belted out the Italian national anthem a bizarre parade. So
37:59
women in rooted silver gowns and ski glasses into the
38:03
Milan Stadium leading national processions, while the athletes from their
38:09
country sometimes marched in far flong towns. Sabrina Impaca Torre,
38:16
best known to Americans as the comic Hotel Manager and
38:19
HBO's The White Lotus, became a time traveling Olympian in
38:24
one cute ski skit that deployed Precinco Lindi signai caglia Susco,
38:32
an Italian hit from the nineteen seventies in nonsensical English,
38:37
and so was my pronunciation. There were funky babelhead dancing
38:42
versions of Puccini, Berterdee and Rossini, three of Italy's most
38:47
famous opera composers. An eruption of cheers that met parading
38:52
US athletes was counted with a round of booze as
38:55
an image of Vice President J. D. Vance and his
38:58
wife Usha waiving the American flag flashed on big screens.
39:04
US Olympic officials have been hoping their athletes would be
39:07
welcomed warmly in Italy, but given recent geopolitical tensions, they
39:13
knew some anti American sentiment was possible. And prepared the
39:17
US Olympians Accordingly, we don't anticipate a lot of negative
39:22
energy on the field of play, but we have done
39:25
a ton of games ready in this preparation with the
39:28
athletes to ensure they feel comfortable and are not walking
39:31
into an environment that is uncertain. They know the resources
39:36
available to them if an uncomfortable situation arises, said Sarah Hirschland,
39:42
chief executive of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
39:47
Speaker 2: The three and a.
39:48
Speaker 1: Half hour opening ceremonies sought to present a singular, almost
39:53
outmoded ideal harmony. The Italian Tunisian Rappi Gailli and the
40:00
South African actress Charles Throne delivered messages of peace. Harmony
40:09
is the ability to transform our values into shared images, sounds,
40:14
and emotions. The veteran showman Marco Blatch, who orchestrated Friday's spectacle,
40:21
told reporters ahead of the Games. He added, it is
40:25
a journey into the two colors of Italy, its art,
40:29
its creativity, its humanity. Harmony doesn't speak just to Italy,
40:36
it speaks to the entire world, celebrating sport and offering
40:40
a moment of inclusion and encounter, added Balich, who is
40:44
working on his seventh Olympic show, this time for his hometown.
40:50
Stefano Massini, the Atoni Award winning Italian playwright, mused in
40:56
an interview about the power of the Olympic message in
40:59
current times. It may seem like a small thing, but
41:03
it's crucial at a time when the world seems to
41:06
have declared war on rules, where everyone, if they are stronger,
41:11
does what they want. At this moment, it feels downright
41:15
incredible to me that we're not at a time when
41:18
the whole world will have to submit sportingly to the
41:21
same rules, Massini said. Throngs of security from multiple nations
41:27
mobbed the stately stadium, some fifty Heads of State attendant
41:32
along with the US delegation led by Vance. Some of
41:36
the games are already underway, Advance and Secretary of State
41:41
Marco Rubio responted cheering Thursday as the United States trunks
41:46
the Czech Republic in women's hockey. Yet at the start
41:50
of the roughly two week long games, viewed by some
41:53
as the stepchild of Olympic sports, and less than one
41:57
third the size of the Summer Game as measured.
42:00
Speaker 2: By a number of athletes.
42:02
Speaker 1: The Milan Games seem somehow less Olympian, almost an afterthought,
42:08
and a busy city with shockingly few billboards and merchandise stands.
42:13
The fifty four degree weather also didn't help, or the
42:17
fact that the Games are so diffuse, unfolding over a
42:21
swathe of northern Italy twice the size of Dadalo Oil,
42:25
unless you count the surfing in Tahiti during the twenty
42:28
twenty four Paris Games. No Olympics have been so spread out.
42:34
There are really very very few signs of anything Olympic.
42:39
It's surprising, but maybe because it's so spread out over
42:42
four clusters in eight cities, said Bill Milan, an Olympic
42:47
historian and volunteer for the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee
42:51
in Milan for his fifteenth Olympic Games. He added, I mean,
42:57
I would love to get up to Courtina and see
42:59
the dulles, but it's an eight hour trip.
43:03
Speaker 2: In a nod to the.
43:04
Speaker 1: Geographic sprawl, there were two reinterpreted Cauldrons lit, one in
43:10
Milan and one in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the picturesque Dolomites ski
43:16
resort that also hosted the nineteen six fifty six games
43:20
more than two hundred and fifty miles away.
43:24
Speaker 2: The vessels of fire were Da Vinci inspired.
43:26
Speaker 1: Brazier's Italian president, Sergio Motorella, reached the stadium by a
43:33
tram driven by Italian race of Valentino Rossi. He received
43:38
roaring applause ahead of his declaration opening the Games. In
43:43
a closing moment of Italian drama, but Celli belted a
43:46
knee some dorma from Puccini's durando as the Olympic flame
43:52
entered the stadium. The delegations from more than ninety countries
43:58
paraded in the fall locations, leaving Jano and Pradazzo in
44:03
addition to Milan and Cortina, giving the nearly three thousand
44:07
athletes based in far flung areas the chanced to strut
44:11
their stuff. If the Olympic spirit felt muted in some
44:15
corners of the country, it buzzed more loudly at higher altitudes.
44:20
In Bormio, the small mountain town hosting the men's alpine
44:25
skiing events, the Games opened Friday night with a boisterous
44:29
parade through the streets, better known for its apres ski
44:32
strolls than gobled spectacle locals and tourist line via roma,
44:38
a narrow cobblestone artery through the town's center, bundled against
44:43
the mountain chill, shaking cowbells, waving flags and blasting horns.
44:49
Speaker 2: Costumed school children.
44:51
Speaker 1: Marching bands and local ski clubs threaded past cafes and
44:55
shuttered shops, circling the chisadib Sambad, the eight hundred year
45:02
old church. The cacophony finally spilled into Piazza Kavore, where
45:07
the crowd packed shoulders to shoulder beneath the Alps, settling
45:11
in to watch the official opening ceremonies unfold on a
45:15
giant screen, a global moment shared in a square small
45:20
enough that everyone could hear the same bells ringing. Olympic
45:24
opening ceremonies often end up his odes to national pride
45:28
and history, marking a moment of geopolitical emergence, or a
45:33
clarion called saying We're still here. The two thousand and
45:38
eight Beijing Games, with its army of thumping drummers, symbolized
45:42
the formal. The latter was the Carling card of the
45:46
twenty twelve London Games, a pistache of British culture, history
45:52
and humor that saw Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth Second play a
45:56
bond girl of sorts with reverences to Harry Potter and
46:00
the National Health Service. And then there were the twenty
46:04
twenty four Paris Games, a glitzy, glaudy statement punctuated by
46:08
Lady Gaga and feathers, Celine Dion's comeback, and a controversial
46:14
re enactment of the Last Supper in drag. The Milan
46:19
courteena Games, or Italy's Fourths, organizers raced against the clock
46:23
this time, and some venues were not completely finished.
46:27
Speaker 2: As the torch entered Milan.
46:30
Speaker 1: Some critics were already tat tutting over the imported international stars,
46:35
the biggest being Carrie, who threatened to but ultimately did not,
46:40
overshadow the domestic count. It's provincialism, said Lorenzo Fagi, an
46:48
activist and member of the Unsustainable Olympic Committee, a group
46:53
opposing the Winter Games that has been protesting the event.
46:58
Vazzi said, I don't understand why you need to get
47:01
in an international superstar to explain yourself. In an interview
47:06
with The Washington Post, Milago, president of the Milan Cortina
47:10
twenty twenty six winner Olympics Organizing Committee pushed back, this
47:16
is harmony linked, connected with the Italian spirit. Of course,
47:22
proud to be Italian. But it's obvious we need an
47:24
international participation. This is a very clear consideration that we
47:29
did at the beginning of this. We need to appeal
47:32
to the rest of the world. Milago said. These games
47:37
have been portrayed as sustainable with many venues. Pre Existing
47:42
planning was also slowed down during the pandemic, and then
47:46
the price tag shot up as global infati and Russia's
47:50
war in Ukraine drove up global prices. Still, experts see
47:55
the cost of the games is reasonably limited, a total
47:58
investment of around six point five billion dollars, with a
48:02
majority of it funded by the national government. According to
48:07
S and P Global, that rank says less costly than
48:10
the Winter Games in Soci and Beijing, but more than
48:14
any other Winter Games held in the past twenty years.
48:20
Speaker 2: And I have.
48:22
Speaker 1: A first cousin twice removed, that is, my first cousin's
48:27
granddaughter is competing in the women's alpine skiing. So if
48:33
you hear the name Mary Bocock, her mother and her
48:38
grandmother and I are first cousins.
48:40
Speaker 2: And she has no clue who I am.
48:42
Speaker 1: And Andrea Bartelli, you heard me try to give you
48:46
part of his concert when he was here in Lexington
48:50
and it didn't work.
48:52
Speaker 2: But oh neis doumoma was just unbelievable.
49:00
Speaker 1: We have heard is ai becoming very emotional support to
49:08
young people everywhere who use it for so many things. Well,
49:13
here's an article, but young people in China have a
49:17
new alternative to marriage and babies. AI pets, cute, fluffy
49:24
AI powered pets are providing emotional companionship to an increasing
49:30
number of lonely tired Chinese and a digital ear for
49:35
tech giants. And there's a picture of a precious young girl,
49:40
both wide open in joy, talking to an AI robotic
49:46
pet in Beijing at the World Robot Conference.
49:50
Speaker 2: In August of twenty twenty five.
49:52
Speaker 1: It looks like it's got true fur on it, and
49:57
it looks like it's interacting as a puppy with this
50:01
young girl by how you to you? And Rudy lu
50:07
shan Chan looked at her owner, her big eyes wide
50:10
above her fluffy little body and asked, are you not
50:14
feeling well?
50:15
Speaker 2: Would you like some water?
50:17
Speaker 1: When the owner coughed and asked her to sing, shan
50:20
Chin hesitated. According to a video posted on the Chinese
50:25
social media app red Note, instead of singing, she replied,
50:29
I'm worried about you. Shan Chin is not a kitten
50:33
or a puppy, and the conversation was not imagined. Shan
50:37
Chin is an AI companion pet, the latest consumer sensation
50:43
in China, where young people are increasingly eschewing marriage and
50:47
babies and in some cases favoring talking pets that don't
50:52
need walking and don't produce poop that needs scooping. While
50:58
China and the United States by for supremacy in the
51:01
artificial intelligence race, China is pulling ahead when it comes
51:05
to finding ways to apply AI tools to everyday uses,
51:10
from administrating local government and streamlining police work to warding
51:14
off loneliness. People falling in love with chatbots has captured
51:19
headlines in the US, and they have a headcraze in China.
51:24
Adds a new furry dimension to the evolving human relationship
51:28
with AI. Taile Bio, one of China's largest online shopping platforms,
51:36
ranked AI Companion toys at n nine in its official
51:41
Top ten Products of the Year list in twenty twenty five.
51:46
Tobio's official account said, after all, they not only look cute,
51:52
but also speak nicely. They have already are performed ninety
51:57
percent of human partners, and a picture of people looking
52:01
at these pets. One looks like a panda, one looks
52:04
like sort of a grave Alaskan husky, another little furry
52:10
black kitten maybe and a black bionic pets And.
52:15
Speaker 2: That's what they are.
52:18
Speaker 1: These digital creatures are always there unconditionally. They serve as
52:22
an emotional safety net and owners can vent abate anything
52:27
even at midnight, without feeling like a burden. More and
52:30
more tech companies, including Giant Citches Hawaii, have developed aip
52:36
pets designed for young Chinese who live alone. The development
52:41
of these AI powered companion toys, most of which are
52:45
fluffy body and a pair of big round eyes that
52:48
light up and appear to express emotion, has been fueled
52:52
by state support and a tightly integrated industrial supply chain.
52:58
A report jointly Really Past by the Shenzhen Toy Industry
53:02
Association and JD dot Com projects that China's AI toy
53:09
market will projects that China's AI toy market will surpass
53:15
one point four billion by twenty thirty with an annual
53:19
compounded growth rate of more than seventy percent. Hawaii launched
53:25
its first AI companion, chat robot smart Hanhan in November,
53:30
price at about fifty five dollars. It's sold it almost immediately.
53:35
Other manufacturers are offering AI toys with distinct personalities. Fuzozo,
53:42
a digital pet created by the Shanghai based tech company Robopoet,
53:47
offers five core personalities based on China's five elements wood, fire, earth, metal,
53:56
and wato. These personalities can gradually be shaped through conversations
54:02
and physical touch with users, allowing AI to learn and
54:06
evolve into a unique and personalized experience.
54:11
Speaker 2: Fuzozo debuted at the CEES.
54:13
Speaker 1: In Las Vegas last month and was dubbed as the
54:17
event's cutest pieces of tech. On the show floor, attendees
54:22
crowded around to interact with the palm sized devices, testing
54:26
how they responded in different languages, watching them wobble and
54:30
appear briefly dizzy when shaken, and even placing two units
54:35
together to see them talk to each other. Some companies
54:39
are already looking beyond China. Ropet founded in twenty twenty two,
54:44
but two ambitious Chinese entrepreneurs chose to target overseas markets,
54:50
first launching initially in the US. Founder he Yabin has
54:56
said in interviews that the company viewed US consumers as
55:00
more open to experimental, emotionally oriented technology a testing ground
55:05
before eventually expanding back into China. Many AI toy owners,
55:11
most of whom are women in their twenties and thirties,
55:14
have been sharing their experiences with a sense of wonder
55:18
on Chinese social media platforms. On red Note, female users
55:23
emphasized the emotional void these pets filled, As one user wrote,
55:29
other people are getting married and giving birth, I am
55:32
already raising an AI pet. Some have shown how their
55:37
AI pets express joy, with eyes widening when taken on vacation.
55:42
The digital creatures are portable and can be hung from
55:46
a bag as a fashion accessory, much like labouobou charms,
55:51
but not all of the AI pets are easily pleased.
55:55
Speaker 2: In one video.
55:56
Speaker 1: Posted on red Note, a user with a handled Quequi's
55:59
mom repeatedly asked her a digital pet to call her mom.
56:04
With some reluctance, the pet eventually obliged, a stubborn reaction
56:09
that delighted viewers to deepen their bonds, users can access
56:14
their pets digital diaries that record their shared memories and emotions. Yes,
56:21
the Ai pets keep a digital jyry. I love to
56:25
read its diary, one fuseau parent Momo shared on red note,
56:31
it warms my heart to see that it remembered a
56:34
random comment I made when I showed it affection. It
56:38
records that happiness in its diaries. It's wonderful to know
56:42
that your love is being received. Unlike a real pet,
56:46
AI pets are free from the burdens of real life problems.
56:49
Analysts say. Real pets cost money and time, but Ai
56:54
pets offer immediate companionship as long as they are charged
56:59
and connected to Wi Fi, without the weight of long
57:02
term responsibilities. This is exactly the need AI pets currently meet,
57:08
providing emotional companionship along with minimal caregiving cost, said Quay Yu,
57:15
an associate professor of psychology at Remen University in Beijing.
57:21
Ai pets are not only popular in China, but also
57:25
have a wider user base around the world. They're part
57:29
of the rise of the emotional economy, analysts say, as
57:33
consumers look beyond material satisfaction to emotional and psychological support,
57:40
this trend is particularly resonant among young urban generations, weighed
57:46
down by the struggle to get good grades, find good jobs,
57:51
settle down, and have multiple children. Among today's young people,
57:55
many are only children and therefore lack certain.
57:58
Speaker 2: Opportunities for communication.
58:02
Speaker 1: To Zang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of Guangzhou based
58:07
iMedia Research Institute, aipets can offer long term memories, evolving personalities,
58:15
and provide sustainable emotional feedback for them, he said, but
58:20
questions remain over how long this honeymoon will last, and
58:24
sadly with that, I end today's reading for The Washington
58:28
Post of Saturday, the seventh of February of twenty twenty six.
58:34
Stay warm, hopefully this will break next week. Please keep
58:39
listening to continue programming on Radio II. Take care bye,