Transcript

10.21.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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October twenty first, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, Radio
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I is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. Your reader for today is Cindy Fraser.
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Today's front page headlines from the Washington Post are officials undercut,
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President on strikes, targeted sea route is not ordinarily used
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a traffic fentanyl to US, they say. Next, Trump can
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send guard to Portland. Appeals panel says it's likely lawful
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surge was ordered over protests at ICE facility. The next
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headline from today's front page top colleges prove resistant to
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White House deal. Next, in AI race, long hours become
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a way of life. Our next headline the Zelensky told
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by Trae to seed Land to Russia. Ukrainian leader seeking
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European support after tense meeting in US. And the final
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headline from today's front page is entitled Whistleblower says Social
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Security needs to prove data is safe. In addition to
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those headlines, there are two other photos on today's front page.
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The first is entitled Demolition under way in White House
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ballroom project. Despite President Donald Trump's pledge the construction of
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a bar room at the White House would not interfere
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with the existing building, crews began tearing down part of
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the East Wing on Monday. The next photo is entitled
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lighting up the Night Women Carridias or traditional oil lamps
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a shrie Schwamen Rayan temple during celebrations to mark Dwali,
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the Hindu festival of lights in Varasani, India on Monday.
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Now let's turn to our first item, entitled Officials under
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President on strikes. Targeted sea route is not ordinarily used
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to traffic Fetnah to us, they say by Terence McCoy,
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Anna Vanessa Herrero, and Samantha Schmidt from Mexico City. The
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Trump Administration's justification for blowing up suspected drug traffickers off
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the Venezuelan coast has been clear and consistent. These people
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aren't just criminals. They're narco terrorists smuggling a quote deadly weapon,
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poisoning Americans at the behest of terrorist organizations. We take
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them out. President Donald Trump told the nation's three and
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four star generals and admirals last month. Every boat kills
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twenty five thousand on average. Some people say, more you
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see these boats, they're stacked up with bags of white
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powder that's mostly fetnyl and other drugs too. Claiming the
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power to summarily kill traffickers as of their enemy troops,
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Trump has authorized the US military to strike at least
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six speedboats the administration has deemed suspicious, killing dozens of
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people since the beginning of September. At least half of
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the strikes and twenty one of the killings locals say
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have transpired in the waters between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago,
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nations so close that on clear days there was inside
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of each other. But records and interviews with twenty people
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familiar with the route or the strikes, including current and
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former US and international officials, contradict the administration's claims. The passage,
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they said, is not ordinarily used to traffic synthetic opioids
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such as fetnah, present in sixty nine percent of drug
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overdose deaths last year, nor the drugs typically headed for
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the United States. Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean nation more
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than one thousand miles south and one thousand, two hundred
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miles east of Miami is both a destination market for
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marijuana and a trend shipment point for South American cocaine
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bound for West Africa and Europe, according to US officials,
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Trinidadian police, and independent analysts. The federal seized in the US,
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in contrast, is typically manufactured in Mexico using precursors from
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China and smuggled in through the land border, most often
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by U. S. Citizens. The military strikes are unlikely as
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a result, to cut overdose deaths in the US, officials say,
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but it has brought US forces into striking distance of
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Venezuelan President Eucolas Manturo. Trump has accused the authoritarian socialist,
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who claimed re election last year despite ballot audits showing
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he lost the vote, of leading the Venezuelan gang trend
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Aragua to push lethal drugs into America. When I saw
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an internal document on the strikes, a senior U S.
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National security official said, I immediately thought, this isn't about terrace,
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this is about Venezuela and regime change. But there was
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no information about what it was really about. The official,
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like others quoted in this report, spoke on the condition
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of anonymity to provide his candid assessment. The White House
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declined to share evidence to support the claims that Trump
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has used to justify the strikes. A spokeswoman defended the
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killings as necessary to protect Americans. All of these decisive
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strikes have been against designated narco terras bringing deadly poison
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to our shores. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the President will
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continue to use every element of American power to stop
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drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those
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responsible to justice. Two family members of the eleven men
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killed in September in the first attack acknowledged by Trump
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did not deny that the men aboard had been taking
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marijuana and cocaine from Venezuela to Trinidad, but they said
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Trump's allegation in the announcement was inaccurate that they had
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worked for the Venezuelan gang Trende Aragua. I knew them all,
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said one of the family members, who spoke on the
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condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. None of them
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had anything to do with Trende Aragua. They were fishermen
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who were looking for a better life by smuggling contraband.
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On Tuesday, Trump said a new strike had killed six
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male narcoteras off the Venezuelan coast. That afternoon, one mother
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in the Trinidadian community of Las Cuevas received a call
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from her brother, a fisherman, her son, Chad Joseph, the
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second of her six children, had been killed in the explosion.
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Speaking by phone Thursday morning, Leonora Burnley was furious her
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son had been deprived of trial and she had been
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deprived of any chance of closure. You can't get the
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body to bury it, she said. Joseph had spent the
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past three months in Venezuela working oddjo Burnley said he
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had written her recently to say he would be returning home.
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She called Trump's claim that he had been involved in
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trafficking drugs a lie. They are judging him wrong. She
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said he was no drug dealer. Chad was a good boy.
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Anything you want, he would help. He was a loving child.
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Twenty six years he have, she said, how cocaine courses
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through Venezuela. In recent years, drug cartels in Colombia and
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other South American nations have supercharged cocaine production the rush
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to bring it to market, largely in the US and Europe,
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but increasingly West Africa has transformed the continent's criminal landscape,
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fueling the rise of new transnational gangs and threatening weaker
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national governments with limited power of state. Venezuela, too has
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been swept into the boom, Economically battered by years of
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socialist mismanagement and punishing international sanctions. A nation that was
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once Latin America's wealthiest has become increasingly involved in the trade.
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Along its border with Colombia. Cocaine is now produced for
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sale and shipment abroad. US federal prosecutors in March twenty
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twenty accused senior government officials in the Madoro regime, including
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Maduro himself, of leading the Cartel de los Soles or
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Cartela of The's Sons, a criminal network that extorts drug
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trafficking groups and controls routes and product itself. Venezuela, US
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investigators say is now a narco free for all, filled
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with armed groups from throughout Latin America. The Mexicans are there,
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one former drug enforcement and administration agent said, the Colombians
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are there, sometimes on behalf of the Mexicans. Sometimes the
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Honduras and Guatemalans have guys there too. Most of the
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South American cocaine bound for North America, flows through the Pacific.
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Some does depart Venezuela through the Caribbean. According to US
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officials and analysts who track drug routes, much of it
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courses overland to the western states of Zulia and Falcone
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before shipping northward to Puerto Rico, the West Virgin Islands,
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and the Dominican Republic. Some travels by air, departing clandestine
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airstrips in Maracaibo or Apore states for Central America and
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onward to Mexico and the United States. It's less common,
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investigators say, to ship US bound cocaine from the northeastern
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state of Soucre across a narrow Bocosidrogone channel to Trinidad,
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the route the administration has targeted. Trinidad is used far
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more frequently as a gateway to Europe. Spanish authority seized
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one point sixty five tons of cocaine that had transited
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through the island, the State Department reported in twenty twenty four.
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Portuguese authorities in June recovered one point sixty six tons
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of cocaine that it traversed the same route. When you
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look at the map, countries like Trinidad and Tobago and
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Surinam are used as trend shipping points of massive amounts
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of cocaine from Colombia into Venezuela and then onward to
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West Africa and Europe, a former senior US security official said.
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He added that routes may change based on pressure. One
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recently retired senior Trinidadian police official asked whether Sucre traffickers
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were bringing drugs intended for the United States, chuckled, why
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would they use Trinidad and Tobago to transport drugs to
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the United States when you have Colombia and Mexico and
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all of these other places that are closer the waters
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between Cukre and Trinidad. The Sucre peninsula, known for his
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paradisacal beaches and green thatched mountains, has always been poor,
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but his fortunes turned decidedly for the worst in recent years,
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as you commonly melted down and the state slipped into lawlessness.
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With few opportunities to work, fishermen turned to the smuggling
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route that has long tethered Sucre to Trinidad, a half
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hour boat right away. The former senior Trinidadian police official
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has investigated the route since nineteen eighty nine. It has
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historically carried many kinds of contraband, guns, cigarettes, alcohol, honey,
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exotic animals and people, but in recent years, as more
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drugs poured into Venezuela, it began to be used as
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a route to bring over marijuana and cocaine. It's eighty
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percent Merijuana, said one Trinidad criminologist who has studied seizure data.
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Cocaine is a much much smaller amount. While trende Aragua
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has had a presence in Sucre, locals and drug trafficking
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analysts say it doesn't control the trade. The drugs are
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instead moved by other local gangs. We have found no
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links between Tren de Aragua and multinational smugglers, said Jeremy McDermott,
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co found of Inside Crime, whose team recently visited the region.
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There was an attempt by them to penetrate Soucre, but
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they were rejected by local gangs. The evidence, he added,
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does not support the claims by the Trump administration. One
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man who grew up in San Juan de Oonare along
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the Soufre coast, but moved to Caracas after his community
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plunged into poverty, said his cousin Ribus. Gomez was among
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the first fishermen to take drugs to Trinidad. He said
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his cousin had a young family to support people are
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in need. He said they live off fishing and hunting,
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and that's it. Now Gomez is dead and the man
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said his family has deteriorated in San Juan de onare
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unable to collect his body and haunted by questions over
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why the US military killed him. They're going to Trinidad,
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he said, they weren't going to the United States. Herrera
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reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Schmid reported from Bogata, Columbia, and
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A Nakashima, Norah Robertson and Warren's Throble in Washington contributed
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to this report. Next, an item entitled Trump can send
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Guard to Portland. Appeals panel says it's likely lawful surge
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was ordered over protests at ICE facility by Mark Berman.
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Officials in Oregon urged a federal appeals court to review
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its decision that said President Donald Trump could deploy the
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National Guard to Portland. A divided three judge panel with
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the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on
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Monday blocked a lower Court's ruling that had prohibited the
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Trump administration from sending troops into the city. The decision
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authorizes for now Trump's efforts to place the military in
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Oregon's largest city, one of several places where he has
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sent troops or vowed to do so, including Los Angeles, Chicago,
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and Washington, d C. In his statement Monday, Oregon Attorney
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General Dan Rayfield, a Democrat, urged the full Appeals Court
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to review the decision. He said the ruling, if allowed
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to stand, would give the president unilateral power to put
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Oregon soldiers on our streets with almost no justification. We
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are on a dangerous path in America. In a news
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conference Monday, Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, said that a
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move to deploy troops to Portland represented a gross, Unamerican
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abuse of power. She said that a second temporary restraining
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order still prevented National Guard troops from being deployed in
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the state, adding the fight is not over. In the
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order released Monday afternoon, a two to one majority on
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the panel said it was likely that Trump acted lawfully
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in federalizing the National Guard during protests in Portland over
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immigration enforcement. The order said the judge who blocked Trump
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from deploying troops there, accorded no deference to the president's
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determination that he could not execute federal laws with regular forces.
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Trump statements about deploying troops have prompted intense opposition from
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many states and local leaders. Some have gone to court
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to challenge such actions, accusing the administration of violating the
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law and in flaming situations in their communities. A federal
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judge in Chicago has blocked Trump's push to deploy troops
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in Illinois, saying she found a lack of credibility in
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federal officials contentions in that case. The Trump administration has
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asked the Supreme Court to pause that decision and allow
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the troop deployment in Illinois. On Monday, California filed an
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amicus breed opposing Trump's efforts in that case. In the filing,
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California said federalized members of its state National Guard had
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been deployed to Illinois. California also said it has a
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substantial interest in the outcome as it continues to legally
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challenge the federalization of some four thousand members of its
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own National Guard by the Trumpet administration. Our message to
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the courts is clear Trump is putting our members of
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the military on the front lines of a completely unlawful
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activation against American communities, said Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat,
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in a statement. The justices have not yet ruled in
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that case, a decision could come this week. In Oregon,
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officials wrote in court filings that the Trump administration's efforts
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to deploy troops were infringing on the state's sovereign power
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to manage its own law enforcement activity and its own
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National Guard. The Trump administration wrote in its filings that
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the president acted lawfully, saying troops were needed in Portland
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because immigration officers and property were the subject of regular,
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often violent protests. Demonstrations have unfolded for weeks at an
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immigration and customs enforcement facility in Portland. The Trump administration
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has said in court papers that the facility was the
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target of actual and threatened violence. Trump's intended Portland deployment
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was pause this month when U. S District Judge Karen J.
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Immigrant blocked him from sending the Oregon National Guard into
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the city. Immigrant, who was appointed by Trump during his
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first term, wrote in her order that by the time
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Trump announced plans to send troops to Portland. It had
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been months since there was any sustained level of violent
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or disruptive protest activity in the city. The Trump administration
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pivoted to send California National Guard members into Portland. Immigrant
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issued a second order blocking the administration from sending troops
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into Oregon. The Trump administration has appealed Immigrant's order blocking
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the Oregon National Guard from being deployed in Portland, but
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not her order prohibiting any National Guard members from being
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deployed in Oregon. During arguments before the Ninth Circuit panel
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this month, the Justice Department said if the judges paused
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Immigrant's first order, the agency planned to seek to have
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her second order dissolved. In its order, the panel's majority
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agreed that Immigrant's two orders rise or fall together. Later Monday,
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the Justice Department asked to have Immigrant's second order dissolved
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or paused. The Ninth Circuit judges said Immigrant had aired
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on several fronts, writing that she reviewed an unnecessarily limited
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window of time to assess unrest in Portland and substituted
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her own assessment of the facts for the President's assessment
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of the facts. The Ninth Circuit panels members were judges
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Ryan D. Nelson and Bridget S. Bade, both of whom
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were appointed by Trump, and Susan P. Graber, who was
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appointed by President Bill Clinton. Gravery dissented from the majority's decision,
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writing that it arodes corps constitutional principles and abdicates our
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judicial responsibility. Graber wrote in her dissent that because the
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Trump administration had not appealed Immigrant's second order at that point,
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Monday's ruling would not have any immediate effect the administration,
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she wrote, will remain barred from deploying the National Guard.
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The Trump administration praise a ruling. As we have always maintained,
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President Trump is exercising his lawful authority to protect federal
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assets and personnel following violent riots that local leaders have
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refused to address. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said
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in a statement, this ruling reaffirms that the lower court's
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ruling was unlawful and incorrect. After the ruling Monday, a
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larger group of judges within the Ninth Circuit, known as
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an n Bank panel, could rehear the case. Both sides
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in the case were directed to file briefs this week
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saying whether they thought the case should be reheard by
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the larger panel. Graver wrote in her descent that she
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urged her colleagues to act swiftly to vacate the majority's
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order before the illegal deployment of troops under false pretenses
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can occur. Raythel said he echoed Graver in hoping the
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larger paneled Ninth Circuit judges would vacate the panel's decision.
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The Ninth Circuit panel that ruled Monday conducted a hearing
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this month to weigh arguments about the Portland deployment and
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whether to allow it to proceed. Appearing before the judges,
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officials representing the Trump administration and Oregon offered dueling portraits
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of whether the Portland deployments were lawful. Oregon officials said
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protests in Portland significantly declined since the summer by the
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time Trump announced the Portland deployment late last month. They
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wrote in court filings, the protesters activities have not necessitated
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any arrests for months. Immigrant in her ruling had echoed
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Oregon officials conclusions. While there were violent protests at the
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ice facility in June. She wrote, by the time of
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Trump's attempted deployment, the demonstrations were generally peaceful in nature,
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with only sporadic incidents of violence and disruptive behavior. Eric MacArthur,
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a Justice Department lawyer, told the Ninth Circuit panel that
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Emigrant aired in considering the situation in Portland only during
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the days and weeks before Trump's deployment. He said the
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Trump administration had sent in federal law enforcement officials to
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help quell the unrest, but described this as unsustainable given
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limited resources. As a result, he said, Trump called in
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the National Guard. Stacy M. Chaffin, an assistant Oregon Attorney General,
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said there was a significant difference between the situation around
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the Ice facility in June and in September. She urged
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the panel's judges to look at the circumstances around when
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that happened in its opinion. The panel's majority said Monday
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that Emigrant clearly aired in characterizing the events in September
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leading up to and preceding the federalization order, writing that
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numerous instances of violent and disruptive behavior happened outside the
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Ice facility in September. Graper wrote in her dissent that
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there had not been a single incident of protesters disrupting
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the execution of the laws in the two weeks leading
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up to Trump's announcement about deploying troops in Portland. Even
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looking back to the summer when protests were heavier did
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not mean there was an emergency requiring troops by September.
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She said. It is illogical to assert that because an
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emergency existed three months ago, the same emergency exists today.
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She wrote. A pot of tepid water is not a
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pot of boiling water, and it cannot hurt you, even
22:32
if it was boiling three hours earlier. Our next item
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for today's friend Page is entitled Top Colleges proved resistant
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to White House deal by Susan's fer Luga and Emily Davies.
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Despite strong pressure from the Trump administration, including a call
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with a White House on Friday, colleges and universities are
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largely rejecting the President's offer a preferential treatment for funding
22:58
in exchange for compliance with its ideological priorities. Six of
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nine universities offered the deal earlier this month had publicly
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said no to the White House requests by Monday's deadline
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for responses. On Monday, the University of Arizona and Vanderbilt
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University did not accept the deal, but said they were
23:17
open to more discussion. The administration has said it is
23:21
seeking to make sure the country schools are merit based,
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but many universities and higher education advocates said the White
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House's proposed agreement would undermine the merit based process currently
23:33
utilized toward research grants. The University of Arizona said its
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leaders had not agreed to the terms that had been offered,
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but pledged to collaborate with the federal government, submitting a
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statement of principles to the Department of Education. Sherish Garamela,
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the university's president, told the campus community, a number of
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the proposed federal recommendations deserved thoughtful consideration, as our national
23:58
higher education system could then of it from reforms that
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have been much too slow to develop, and that many
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of the ideas are already in place at the university.
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At the same time, principles like academic freedom, merit based
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research funding, and institutional independence are foundational and must be preserved,
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he wrote. Vanderbilt's Chancellor, Daniel Deermeyer, told the campus community
24:23
on Monday that the school would continue the conversation with
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the Trump administration and others. Our north star has always
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been that academic freedom, free expression, and independence are essential
24:37
for universities to make their vital and singular contributions to society,
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he said. We also believe that research awards should be
24:46
made based on merit alone. The Compact for Academic Excellence
24:50
and Higher Education is a new attempt to get schools
24:54
to align with Trump administration priorities, such as eliminating diversity,
24:58
equity and inclusion poems and insuring more conservative viewpoints and
25:03
values are integrated into campus life. The Trump administration offered
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it to nine colleges earlier this month, casting it as
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a means for schools to gain competitive advantage for federal
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and philanthropic benefits and imitations to White House events in
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return for what the administration described as compliance with civil
25:22
rights law and pursuing federal priorities with vigor. The ideological
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tension was reflected during a call on Friday, which the
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White House organized and presented as a chance to workshop
25:34
the terms of the Compact in partnership with colleges and
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universities that had not yet responded. According to a person
25:41
close to the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
25:45
because of the sensitivity of the matter from the Trump administration,
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Education Secretary Linda McMahon, White House Domestic Policy Director Vincent Hailey,
25:56
Special assistant Eric Bledsoe and adviser Mary Mailman, Josh Grumman
26:00
of the General Services Administration, and billionaire Mark Rowand were
26:04
on the call, the person said, But within a day
26:08
of the call, the University of Virginia and Dartmouth College
26:11
rejected the compact, joining mit Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania,
26:17
and the University of Southern California. The University of Texas
26:21
at Austin was invited to sign on, and the chair
26:24
of the University of Texas System Board of Regents expressed enthusiasm.
26:29
The federal government currently awards billions of dollars in research
26:32
grants based on peer reviews and scientific merit. On Friday,
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University of Virginia's president said the agreement violated the merit
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based nature of the competition for federal research funding. Then
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on Saturday, Dartmouth President Sean Bellach wrote to McMahon, Melman,
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and Hailey that she welcome further engagement on enhancing the
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partnership between the federal government and research universities and ensuring
26:58
that higher education focused on academic excellence. But she wrote,
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I do not believe that the involvement of the government
27:06
through a compact, whether it is a Republican or Democratic
27:10
led White House, is the right way to focus America's
27:13
leading colleges and universities on their teaching and research mission.
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White House spokeswoman Liz Houston described their Friday call as productive.
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The administration hosted a productive call with several university leaders.
27:27
They now have the baton to consider, discuss, and propose
27:31
meaningful reforms, including their form and implementation to ensure college
27:35
campuses serve as laboratories of American greatness, Houston said in
27:39
a statement. These leaders are working steadfastly to improve higher
27:43
education and have been invited to the table to share
27:47
ideas with the administration, and we look forward to discussing
27:50
transparent ways that together, we will produce future generations of
27:54
American excellence. A White House official, speaking anonymously to discuss
27:59
private conversisations, said universities will not lose their federal funding
28:03
because they decided not to engage in the compact. The
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sweeping terms of the compact called on schools to adopt
28:10
the administration's priorities, including pledging to freeze tuition for five years,
28:15
cap international enrollment at fifteen percent of a college's undergraduate
28:19
student body, and bar the consideration of factors such as gender, race,
28:24
and political views in admissions and other areas. Some legal
28:28
scholars said the terms were unconstitutional. Trump administration officials have
28:33
insisted they are protecting free speech by compelling universities to
28:37
reject the culture that suppresses far right thought. Officials asked
28:41
for limited, targeted feedback in writing no later than October twentieth,
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with hopes of assigned agreement by November twenty first. Our
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schools turned it down, citing similar concerns. Christina H. Paxson,
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Brown's president wrote in a letter to the White House
28:58
that provisions and the compact were stricting the university's academic
29:01
freedom and institutional autonomy would impede its mission. The Trump
29:06
administration invited more universities to participate. Washington University in Saint Louis,
29:12
the University of Kansas, and Arizona State University joined Friday's call.
29:17
In a Monday statement, Washington University Chancellor Andrew Martin said
29:21
he had not endorsed or signed on to the compact,
29:24
but agreed to discuss it with the Trump administration Higher
29:28
education more broadly. For us to participate concert we believe
29:34
it is in the best interest of our university and
29:36
higher education more broadly for us to participate constructively, share
29:41
our experience and expertise, and help inform policies that strengthen
29:45
the nation's research and education ecosystem. Martin said some of
29:50
the wording in the compact is vague, but the magnitude
29:53
of the stakes is clear. The Trump administration has frozen
29:57
billions of dollars of federal research funding at multiple colleges
30:01
that it has accused of violating federal civil rights laws
30:04
for issues such as having diversity, equity, and inclusion policies
30:08
and allegedly not doing enough to prevent antisemitism. At Harvard University,
30:14
which has filed two lawsits to fight the government's actions,
30:17
the administration has tried to bar international students and scholars
30:21
from campus, threatened to revoke the university's taxes and status,
30:26
and has begun an effort to block the school from
30:28
receiving any federal grants. Faculty, alumni, and students at many
30:33
of the nine schools urged University leaders not to sign.
30:38
Rallies against the compact occurred on multiple campuses, and student
30:42
leaders from seven of the nine original schools issued a
30:45
joint statement opposing it. More than thirty higher education associations
30:51
issued a statement of opposition Friday, saying the conditions at
30:55
outlines run counter to the interests of institutions, students, scholars,
31:00
and the nation itself. A coalition informed of alumni groups
31:04
opposed to the compact. President Donald Trump wrote on social
31:08
media that the administration would continue efforts to swiftly enforce
31:13
federal law at universities that continue to legally discriminate based
31:17
on race or sex, but that those institutions that want
31:20
to quickly return to the pursuit of truth and achievement
31:23
were invited to enter into a forward looking agreement with
31:27
the federal government to help bring about the golden age
31:30
of academic excellence in higher education. Dan Rosenswig ZIP contributed
31:35
to this report. Our next item is entitled in AI
31:40
race long hours become a way of life by Danielle
31:44
Abriel from San Francisco. Mangus Mueller works around the clock,
31:49
including Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes that might mean starting at
31:53
seven a m. Until he goes to sleep at midnight
31:56
or one a m. The co founder and CEO of
31:59
the AI Star Browser US lives with five others in
32:02
a co living space known as a hacker house in
32:05
San Francisco's upscale Marina neighborhood. This living situation allows his
32:10
team to convene around a whiteboard at one a m.
32:13
To work out new ideas for AI agents. Mueller and
32:17
his team work nine nine six, a term popularized in
32:21
China that refers to a rigid work schedule in which
32:24
people work from nine a m. To nine p m,
32:27
six days a week. Mueller said his company doesn't keep
32:30
track of each person's working time, and he regularly takes
32:33
breaks to do other things, such as walk through the
32:36
woods to clear his mind. He wants the start up
32:39
to hire people addicted to work. Most of the stuff
32:43
people count as work, I don't. The twenty four year
32:45
old said, it's like playing video games. We can do
32:48
this all day. The grind culture that birth big tech
32:52
companies such as Google to Amazon is back. Amazon founder
32:56
Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. As the artificial intelligence
33:01
race heats up, many startups in Silicon Valley and New
33:05
York are promoting hardcore culture as a way of life,
33:08
pushing the limits of work hours, demanding that workers move
33:12
fast to be first in the market. Some are even
33:15
promoting nine nine six as a virtue in the hiring
33:17
process and keeping grind scores of companies. Because of generative AI,
33:23
we know that giant companies are going to be born,
33:26
so startups are working extra hard, saying let's all see
33:29
if we can be one, said Caroline Minnett, executive director
33:33
of Berkeley Skydeck, the University of California at Berkeley's flagship
33:37
startup Accelerator and Incubator program. Whoever builds first in AI
33:42
will capture the market, and the window of opportunity is
33:45
two to three years, so you better run faster than
33:48
everyone else, said are not keep a Hungerer, managing partner
33:52
of venture capital firm Life Exventures at San Francisco based
33:57
AI startup Sonatic. The grind culture also allows for meal
34:01
jim and pickaball time, said King John Nandy, it's CEO.
34:05
Nandy recently posted a job opening on X that requires
34:08
in person work seven days a week. He said, working
34:12
ten hour days sounds like a lot, but the company
34:14
also offers its first hire's perks such as free housing
34:18
in a hacker house, food delivery credits, and a free
34:21
subscription to the dating service Rehya. The chances of success
34:25
increases when everyone is focused on the mission together. Nandy
34:29
twenty one sad employees don't have to struggle with worrying
34:33
about housing, food, or access to dating. Some founders believe
34:38
in nine ninety six, but take a more nuanced approach. Ibamasoud,
34:42
co founder and CEO of San Francisco based optimal Ai,
34:47
is running a start up for the second time around.
34:50
The thirty five year old said she's learned that founders
34:52
definitely need to follow a nine nine six schedule, especially
34:56
in AI, but not employees still before or a major
35:00
product release. They often work long hours right now because
35:04
there's so much momentum we're putting in sheer hours, she said,
35:08
But she noted the schedule is flexible in terms of
35:11
when people work. It's just naturally happening. Some startups are
35:16
openly promoting long hours in their job openings. San Francisco
35:20
based AI company Cognition recently told workers that joined from
35:24
an acquisition that they needed to be ready to work
35:27
long hours. Scott Wu, the CEO, said on x that
35:31
the company routinely works weekend and does some of its
35:35
best work late into the night. Cognition has an extreme
35:39
performance culture, and we're upfront about this in hiring, so
35:42
there are no surprises. Later, Wu said in the post,
35:46
while we're proud of how we work, we understand it's
35:49
not for everyone. Mercore, a San Francisco based startup that
35:53
uses AI to match people to jobs, recently posted an
35:57
opening for a customer success engineer. The candidates should have
36:01
unwillingness to work six days a week and it's not negotiable.
36:05
We know this isn't for everyone, so we want to
36:08
put it up top. The listing reads. Being in person
36:12
rather than remote is a requirement at some startups. AI
36:15
startups Starsley had two engineering job descriptions that required six
36:20
days a week of in person work. In a job
36:23
description for an engineer, Rila, an AI company in New York,
36:27
that candidates should not work at the company if they're
36:29
not excited about working seventy hours a week in person.
36:34
One venture capitalist even started tracking grind scores. Jarrett Sleeper,
36:39
a partner at New York based venture capital firm Vener,
36:43
recently ranked public software companies grind score in a post
36:47
on x which went viral. Using data from Glassdoor, it
36:51
ranks a percentage of employees who have a positive outlook
36:54
for the company compared with their views on work life balance.
36:58
Implicit in nine is the view that doing great things
37:02
takes a lot of effort. Sleeper said, it is something
37:05
you are opting into that will have trade offs. But
37:09
some former founders and venture capitalists say that the glorification
37:12
of work cultures like nine ninety six usually leads to
37:16
burnout and limits a talent pool, as more experienced workers
37:20
may be less willing to work endless hours. More often
37:23
than not, long work schedules lead to more procrastinating than working,
37:27
said d Das, partner adventure capital firm men A Ventures.
37:32
People need to be refreshed for the brains to do
37:35
more creative work, he said. I think overwhelmingly the founders
37:39
who choose to glamorize this are younger. He said. They
37:43
don't have the maturity to understand that experienced people can
37:46
work forty to fifty hours a week and get a
37:49
lot more done than in an eighty hour week. When
37:53
Mulus co founder Gregor Zunik posted an open call for
37:56
new talent on x he quickly got a lot of
37:59
unexpected atte attention. The description was simple amazing salary, hacker
38:04
house and SF crazy equity nine nine six. The post
38:09
come more than fifty three thousand views, and some commenters
38:13
harshly zero it in on nine ninety six. Nine ninety
38:17
six equals slaves with no life, one person commented in response.
38:22
But the startup's co founders, who both in their twenties, said,
38:25
including nine ninety six and job postings ensures they can
38:28
attract the right talent and people who are really obsessed
38:32
with what they do. Nearly said. For Daniel Gibbon, CEO
38:36
of AI start up Adexia, it's key for team members
38:40
to learn how to push their own limits without getting
38:42
burned out or physically ill. Gibbon, twenty two, works seven
38:46
days a week from four am to about six thirty
38:49
p m. During most weeks coding, meeting with customers and strategizing,
38:54
but he takes breaks to see his family and girlfriend
38:57
and goes for walks, and sometimes he works out the
39:00
while looking at nature. If you do it right and
39:03
optimize everything, including your mental and physical health, you can
39:07
push your body pretty far. Next from Today's front page
39:12
is an item entitled Zelensky told by Trump to seede
39:15
land to Russia. Ukrainian leader seeking European support after tense
39:20
meeting in US by Ellen Francis, Catherine Belton and David L.
39:25
Stern from Brussels. Ukrainian President Volodimys Zelensky is rallying the
39:31
support of his European partners after a bruising meeting with
39:34
President Donald Trump in which he was told to make
39:37
concessions to end the war or risk facing destruction at
39:41
the hands of Russia. In a tense meeting at the
39:44
White House on Friday, Trump tossed aside maps of the
39:47
front line and urged Kiev to concede its entire Dombas
39:51
region to Russia to clinch a deal. According to people
39:54
familiar with the exchange, who spoke on the condition of
39:57
anonymity to share details of sensitive diplomas, he said Russian
40:01
President Vladimir Putin will destroy you if you don't agree now.
40:05
One of the people said, Zelensky had his maps and everything,
40:09
and he was explaining it to him, but Trump wanted
40:11
nothing to do with it. Trump listened, but was not
40:14
responsive to the Ukrainian message. The person said, it's pretty
40:18
much like no, looks, guys, you can't possibly win back
40:21
any territory. There's nothing we can do to save you.
40:24
You should try to give diplomacy another chance. In remarks
40:29
released Monday, Zelensky said it was very important that the
40:32
Europeans have a unified position with Ki and that they
40:36
would also address the United States in various formats. He
40:40
told reporters he planned to meet with European allies this week.
40:44
As European leaders issue proclamations of support for Zelensky. His
40:49
White House disappointment is set to dominate diplomatic talks this week,
40:53
including the European Union summit Thursday. Just days after musing
40:58
about giving Zelensky Tamaha missiles to strike Russia, Trump's latest
41:02
swerve on the war appeared to stem from a call
41:05
with Putin last week. Putin demanded that Kief surrendered the
41:09
Donesku region of Dombas as a condition to end the war.
41:14
A European official said Trump moved from talk of long
41:17
range missiles before the call to land swaps in his
41:20
meeting with Zelensky. Now he was saying the US needs
41:24
tomahawks and doesn't want to escalate. A European diplomat briefed
41:28
on the White House exchange described it as a mess
41:32
and said Trump also went on and on about his
41:35
grievances of not having gotten the Nobel Peace Prize. On
41:39
the conflict, the message was that Russia only wants Dombas,
41:43
and this is a good deal, and Putin wants to
41:46
end the war and it can be done quickly, the
41:48
diplomat said. Trump, however, emerged from the meeting with Selensky
41:53
calling for a cease fire along the front line, a
41:56
stance that the Ukrainian president has endorsed publicly, but the
42:00
Kremlin has not. Parts of the Trump Selensky meeting were
42:04
originally reported by The Financial Times on Sunday. Asked if
42:08
he urged Zelensky to give up dahn Bass, Trump later
42:11
said he hadn't. Let it be cut the way it is,
42:15
Leave it the way it is now, he told reporters
42:18
aboard Air Force One on Sunday. They can negotiate something
42:22
later on down the line, he added, but for now,
42:24
both sides of the conflict should stop at the battle line.
42:28
Go home, stop fighting, stop killing people. Kremlin's spokesman dmity Peskov,
42:34
responding to questions Sunday about freezing the conflict along existing
42:38
front lines, said the issue has been raised repeatedly with
42:41
various nuances during contacts between Russia and the US. He
42:45
said Russia's position remains unchanged. Puttin told Trump during their
42:50
call that Russian forces have the strategic initiative along the
42:54
front lines. According to Kremlin ang Yuri Yushkov, the Trump
42:59
and Ministry shift quashed European hopes that Washington might come
43:03
to Ukraine's rescue or boost its leverage in talks. It
43:07
also piles fresh pressure on Ky's chief backers in Europe
43:11
to maintain the flow of cash and weapons. European diplomats
43:16
have long suggested they acquiesced to the idea that Ukraine
43:19
will have to concede land in any future US brokered
43:22
settlement by freezing the front line, but they have backed
43:26
Zelensky by insisting that Kiev would not voluntarily seede any
43:30
territory in Moscow that Russia does not control militarily. While
43:35
Russian forces have taken most of Dombas, they have tried
43:38
and failed to seize the entirety of the heavily fortified
43:42
Donesque region in that quarter of Eastern Ukraine in over
43:45
a decade of fighting. In his call with Trump, Putin
43:49
suggested he could give up claims to part of two
43:52
other Ukrainian regions that Russia has not entirely conquered, Zepariza
43:57
and Khirson, in exchange for control of Dunesk. The Washington
44:02
Post reported, Zelensky said to journalist that he believes Putin
44:06
wants to show that he won the war, and for
44:09
that he needs the administrative borders of Donbas. But here's
44:13
the thing, he added, who says he won't go further
44:16
in a few years? Who can guarantee that. The European
44:20
official said the White House visit was not as disastrous
44:23
as an infamous public shouting match to the Oval Office
44:26
earlier this year, but that Zelensky, who later held a
44:30
call with some European leaders, had left disappointed. None of
44:34
us should put pressure on Zelensky when it comes to
44:37
territorial concessions. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after the meeting,
44:43
one thing is absolutely clear. Europe solidarily with Ukraine against
44:48
Russia's aggression is to day more important than ever before.
44:52
The first person briefed on the meeting said it remained
44:55
unclear what exactly had swayed Trump after the President had
44:59
to talked of Ukraine retaking its full territory and expressed
45:03
frustration with Putin overstalled negotiations. He can flip back, you
45:08
never know. The European diplomat, however, said it seemed that
45:13
Putin knew what he was doing and got through to Trump.
45:16
There are concerns among Europeans once again that things are backsliding,
45:21
the diplomat said. For months, the Kremlin and European leaders
45:25
have jostled for Trump's ear, adjusting to his policy changes
45:29
on the war and his ambition for a peace deal.
45:32
Trump's focus on the deal more than the details has
45:36
at times left all sides frustrated, while the President has
45:39
voiced irritation with both Kiev and Moscow throughout his efforts
45:44
to stop the conflict. Leaders of the EU's twenty seven
45:48
nations will deliberate this week on a response to Trump's
45:51
pivot and on ways to bulshon Ukraine, including with a
45:55
plan to use Russia's frozen assets in the form of
45:58
a reparation loan. With more sanctions against Moscow yet agreement
46:03
to tap into Russian frozen assets could still take time.
46:08
The plan, strongly condemned by Moscow, has not concern from Belgium,
46:12
where much of the assets are held. An objection from
46:15
Hungary's Kremlin friendly Prime Minister Victor Orbon. Also on the
46:20
European agenda is a possible Trump Putin summit in the
46:24
coming weeks. After his call with Putin, Trump said that
46:28
too could meet soon in the Hungarian capital Budapest, much
46:32
to the consternation of many EU leaders except Orbon. European
46:37
foreign minister's Monday reiterated praise of Trump's peace making attempts,
46:42
but some voice dismay at the idea of Putin visiting
46:46
Hungary for the talks. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestius Boutris said
46:51
there was no place for Putin in any of our capitals.
46:55
French Foreign Minister Jean Noel Beraut said the Russian leader's
46:59
visit to the EU member state would only make sense
47:02
if it brings an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Belton reported
47:08
from London and Stern from Kiev. Beatrice Rios in Brussels,
47:12
and Aatalia Abakamuva and Riga Latvia contributed to this report.
47:19
The final item from today's front page is entitled Whistleblower
47:23
says Social Security needs to prove data is safe by
47:27
Merrill Cornfield and Hannah to Tansen Childs. Borges, the chief
47:32
data officer for the vast Social Security Administration, was alarmed
47:36
this past summer when he learned that members of Elon
47:39
Musk's US DOGE service had copied a mainframe database containing
47:44
the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans, including
47:48
the names, birthdays, addresses, and more. The discovery prompted Borges
47:54
to file a whistleblower complaint in August, telling Congress and
47:58
the Office of Special Counsel that the cloud server where
48:01
the database was uploaded had little oversight and was vulnerable
48:05
to a tax by bad actors. The result, he said
48:09
the Trump administration's reaction to his complaint, caused him to
48:12
feel isolated and subject to a hostile work environment, prompting
48:16
him to resign and give up a decades long government
48:19
career and dream job. Social Security officials insist there has
48:24
been no breach or security risk, but Borges and other
48:27
current and former employees say they half concerns about the
48:31
access the DOGE personnel had to the data. And their
48:35
efforts to move and manipulate it in ways the agency
48:38
had never seen before. Even the senior official who granted
48:43
the Musk team brought access to the agency data is
48:46
now warning that DOGE, short for the Department of Government Efficiency,
48:50
should not have put the agency's most sensitive repository of
48:54
American's personal information on a cloud server. Prove me wrong,
49:00
Georges told The Washington Post last week in his first
49:03
media interviews since its disclosure. The only way I feel
49:07
like we're going to get to that point is with
49:09
continued public interest, continued public pressure, and I'm willing to
49:14
lend my name. In a letter to Senate Finance Committee
49:18
Chair Mike Crappo, Republican from Idaho, SSA Commissioner Frank Pisania
49:23
said the agency conducted a thorough review and had not
49:26
found evidence that the master database of some five hundred
49:30
million living and dead Americans, called nimedand had been access leaked, hacked,
49:37
or shared in any unauthorized fashion. The location referred to
49:41
in the whistleblower allegation is actually a secured server in
49:45
the agency's cloud infrastructure, which historically has housed his data
49:49
and is continuously monitored and overseen a ssay's standard practice,
49:54
Bassanio wrote. Although he had until now avoided talking to
49:58
the media for Georges told Post reporters that he had
50:02
decided to go public to draw attention to his concerns
50:05
about the safety of Americans data and his hope that
50:09
the agency will share a documentation to prove that the
50:12
data wasn't put at risk, and his Maryland home decorated
50:17
with photos of his family, his prolific board game collection,
50:20
and navy paraphernalia. The self described data geek said his
50:24
fears while working at Social Security had kept him up
50:27
at night. Borges is not the only Social Security official
50:32
to raise concerns about the safety of data under the
50:35
US DOE Service, which was launched by billionaire Elon Musk
50:38
to cut costs across the government. Former Acting Social Security
50:43
Commissioner Leland Dudek, who was elevated to that role by
50:46
the Trump administration after showing loyalty to Jove, said in
50:51
an interview that borges worries, as documented in his whistle
50:54
blow report are both appropriate and accurate. Dudek, who said
51:00
he is on paid administrative leave penning a full separation
51:03
from Social Security so the type of cloud server that
51:07
DOEGE used is not sufficiently protected for such personal information
51:11
and has been a well known problem for years. That
51:16
absolutely has been the problem with that environment since I've
51:19
been with the agency, that it is too little secured,
51:22
Dudik said, Borges, he continued, is absolutely right. Judik said
51:28
that he never gave DOGE permission to add Americans data
51:31
to that server, and that the transfer happened after he left.
51:36
In his time at the HELM, he said he agreed
51:38
only to let DOGE act as a limited number of
51:41
data sets as the team first sought to eradicate fraud,
51:45
which had found little of, and then to improve and
51:48
tidy the agency's death database. S SA spokesman Barton Mackie
51:54
said the agency disputes Steddek's claims and it is confident
51:57
in the security of our systems. DOGE officials were granted
52:01
access to sensitive social security data, including databases with all
52:06
social security numbers, comprehensive medical records, and bank information almost
52:12
as soon as they arrived at the agency, over the
52:15
objections of senior leaders. The posts previously reported the wide
52:20
ranging access alarmed employees who believed that DOGE team members
52:24
were not obeying the typical protocols and security checks that
52:28
safeguard the agency's data free, current and former staffers said,
52:33
speaking on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.
52:38
In February, the acting SSA Commissioner at the time, Michel King,
52:42
left her job after a disagreement over Doge's attempts to
52:46
gain access to sensitive records. In his interview, Borges forty
52:51
nine provided a deeper look into what it was like
52:54
at Social Security as Doge enacted sweeping changes, causing confusion
52:59
within the agency amid concerns about customer service as Musk's
53:04
team sought to slash staff and root out what it
53:07
claimed was widespread fraud and wasteful spending. Borges, who started
53:12
his new job at the agency hours before a government
53:15
wide hiring freeze, experienced a disorganization firsthand in the early
53:20
months of the administration. The office where he worked, which
53:24
handled analytics, review and oversight, was disbanded soon after he
53:28
began the job, and he was moved to a new office.
53:32
No updated organizational structure was shared with SSA staff, and
53:36
Borges encountered colleagues frequently confused by who reported to whom.
53:42
In that fog Doge was launching major efforts to move
53:45
and manipulate data in ways that employees found highly questionable,
53:50
if not illegal. In the Spring, for example, Doge pushed
53:54
Social Security to add six thousand, one hundred living immigrants
53:59
to a death database, falsely labeling them deceased in a
54:03
bid to make them self deport In one episode, DOSEE
54:07
team members facilitated a quiet transfer of sensitive social security
54:11
information for roughly one hundred thousand people to the Department
54:15
of Homeland Security. Judik said the incident was first reported
54:19
by The New York Times. The data included people's addresses,
54:24
birth and death dates, social security numbers, benefit status, and
54:28
bank information. Judik said DHS told him the information was
54:33
needed for a law enforcement investigation related to immigration status,
54:38
he said. Judik said the transfer foul within the bounds
54:42
of social securities data sharing agreements across government, which say
54:46
the agency can disclose information for law enforcement purposes, specifically
54:51
to help combat serious crimes or criminal activity involving the
54:55
Social Security program. He said he felt compelled by the
54:58
terms of this agreement to grant DHS's request, which came
55:02
in the form of a surprising Saturday night phone call
55:05
from the Chief Information Officer of Immigration and Customers Enforcement
55:09
Dudik said that was certainly unusual, he said, but they
55:13
came directly to me and I had no choice but
55:16
to comply. Mackie said that this authorized data exchange is
55:20
covered under a customary interagency agreement with significant involvement of
55:25
career assay officials. Meanwhile, rumors and fears ran rampant inside
55:30
the agency. Staffer said when people weren't talking about worries
55:35
of getting laid off, one employee said they were discussing
55:39
DOGE employees, asking what they might be doing with millions
55:43
of americans most private personal information. At the same time,
55:48
the agency was exploring plans to lay off workers, and
55:51
others were getting reassigned to jobs they were unfamiliar with
55:55
or choosing to voluntarily leave. In those especially taxing days,
56:00
Borges said he saw co workers breaking down in meetings
56:04
or while sitting at their desks. I cannot count how
56:07
many employees I saw cry, and that is at all
56:11
levels of the agency, from executives downward, Georges said. In
56:16
this summer, Borges first heard from colleagues that DOGE had
56:20
transferred sensitive data to a cloud environment. He began to
56:23
ask questions, but got little information in response. Internal records
56:28
show employees raising concerns about security risks before the transfer
56:32
of the data, according to Borges's disclosure and records previously
56:36
obtained by the Post, before they would proceed, an employee
56:40
told CIO Michael Russo he needed to approve the move.
56:44
Russo accepted the request. To better explain the risk doge
56:49
ran with sensitive data from millions of Americans, Borges described
56:53
the following. Imagine you stepped away from your personal laptop
56:57
in a crowded cafe and gave some one of the password,
57:01
leaving without knowing if they might share your laptop with others.
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Wouldn't you want to know who has been able to
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log in? Borges wasn't sure how to warn others about
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what he had learned. He consulted with a Government Accountability Project,
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a legal group that has represented whistleblowers through aid administrations.
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During those weeks, Borges said he could barely sleep. When
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he wasn't in the office or on the hours long commute.
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He often sat in his home office wondering about the
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right choice. Borges, the son of an Air Force veteran,
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graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on an ROTC
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scholarship and was commissioned into the Navy. Borges said he
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was one of the first aircraft to fly into Iraq
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at the start of the Iraq War. Due to the
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constraints of time, we will be unable to complete this item.
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This concludes the reading of the Washington Post for today, Tuesday,
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October twenty first, twenty two. Your reader for to day
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has been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments,
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or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
58:09
us at eight five nine four two two six three
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nine zero. Thank you for listening, and now please stay
58:16
tuned for continued programming on Radio I