Transcript

6.16.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody, and happy Monday, and welcome to the
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reading of the Washington Post for this Monday, June sixteenth.
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As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for
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people who are blind to have other disabilities that make
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it difficult to read printed material. Your reader for today
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is Rod Brotherton, and by listener's request, as you know,
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on Monday, we begin by reading Paul Prather's weekly column
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from The Lexington Harold Lear. This week's article is titled
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one Weekend showed Me the cracks that let in Divine Light.
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On Friday, I spent thirty minutes or so on the
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phone getting acquainted with the editor in chief of rapt
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and internet denominational online Christian magazine based on the West Coast.
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He'd contacted me because he'd read my columns and liked them,
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which I found flattering. Of course, he turned out to
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be a fascinating guy, a former Wall Street lawyer and
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Silicon Valley venture capitalist who decided that sort of life
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wasn't fulfilling him anymore, so he and his wife founded
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this excellent, prize winning publication. We had a free flowing
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conversation and aim ined each other and praised our maker,
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we might never talk again. I don't know. Still that
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was illuminating. Half an hour the next morning, I was
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out in the parking lot of the rural church. I
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lead wandering among dozens of sputtering motorcycles, as well as
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four wheel drive jeeps and other assorted vehicles. Every year
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there's a charity ride to raise money for research into
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neuro fibritosis inn F. The ride starts in our parking lot.
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The event centers around Owen, a delightful kid who everybody
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loves and who struggle with n F. Owen used to
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go to our church but now attends elsewhere with his
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parents and siblings. But his grandparents, uncle, aunt and cousins
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are still at Bethesda week in and week out, across
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paths with good old Owen regularly. He's one of my
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favorite people. My job for the charity ride is to
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bless the bikes, which I do just before they go
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roaring out of the parking lot. Under US sixty. I
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asked the Lord to give the riders a safe and
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enjoyable journey and to help NF researchers find a cure
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and comfort those who battle this wretched disease. It's always
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an interesting crowd. Lots of leather and beards and unusual haircuts,
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lots and lots of tattoos, Polite, friendly folk, folks generous
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enough to pay out of their own pockets and give
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up their Saturday off to engage little Owen and his family.
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At a glance, some of them seem as a rough
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looking bunch, but if so, they'd miss their sweet souls.
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On Sunday, I began preaching a new series on the
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Grace of God, which, in my loose definition, encompasses just
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about everything anybody needs to know about the Lord of
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the universe. Grace is about being loved by the Creator,
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even when you are at your absolute lowest point, sinful
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or stupid, or sick or broke or divorced or lonely
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or bitter or all of the above. Grace says that
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no matter how badly you screw up, God forgives you
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because before you ask. It says, Jesus didn't come into
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the world to judge you, but to deliver you. It
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says that even if you never manage to get all
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of it right, you're okay. But the one who sees
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your heart about The only thing God asks in return
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is that we pay his gift forward. We're to forgive
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others as fully as we have been forgiven. We're to
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extend the grace we've received. After the service, a parishioner,
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an ex marine and successful businessman, came up to me.
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I understand grace, he said, I know what God's done
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for me. It's that part about showing the same grace
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to others that I find hard sometimes, even when it's
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my own kids, you and all of us. I thought,
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that's the rub. Embracing grace for yourself is easier than
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granting it to someone who broke your heart. That afternoon,
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my wife Liz, and I met at a coffee shop
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with an episcopal priest and his mother, whom he was
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visiting in our town. I'd ask for this meeting. The
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priest had been featured re in a New Yorker magazine
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article which reported on a scientific study of how clergy
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volunteers reacted to hallucinogens whether they encountered God in the
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new powerful ways while under the influence. The priest had
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been a test subject in the study and indeed experienced
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a spiritual awakening. The four of us spent more than
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an hour discussing this, and I expect to write a
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column about our conversation soon. I've never taken hallucinogenic drugs,
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but we all got some chuckles from how similar his
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experiences on mushrooms were to my non chemically induced experience
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as a Pentecostal. So in just one weekend, a Wall
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Street lawyer turned venture capitalist turned Christian editor, a biker rally,
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a conversation about grace with a parishioner, reflections from a
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priest about shrooms. I'm not even sure what I'm trying
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to say here, friends, I think that's my point. Actually,
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it's all untelling this God thing. The whole weekend I
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had an inexpressible sense of God's realness, God's omnipresence, God's
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utter majesty. God was working in one way through the
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editor in San Francisco, another way through those good hearted bikers,
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another way in my parishioner, and still another in the
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episcopal priest. God is a mystery. If you think you've
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got the answers, well no you don't. Also this weekend,
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The New York Times ran a wide ranging interview by
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journalist Peter Weener with Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury,
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mentioning examples is diversed as Doskoeevsky and Leonard Cohen. Will
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you said, there are special people who serve as cracks
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in the world. They let divine light in to the
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rest of us. Neither we nor they see the whole
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of it, but through them we get a glimpse sliver.
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And that's what those people this past weekend were to
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meet cracks in a superstructure, each revealing a different portion
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of the same Lord. And as you know, Paul Praether
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is pastor of the Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling and
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you can email him at prtpd at yahoo dot com.
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Now let's turn to the news of the Washington Post
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and the lead story from the Washington Post this morning
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is Israel appears to take aim at Iran's regime with
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expanded targets. Israeli strikes targeting Iranian energy production facilities, manufacturing plants,
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and aviation signaled the start of a wider and more
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intense phase of the conflicts. Sunday, as Israeli warplanes pursued
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new targets deeper in Iran cities and towns. Tehran residents
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reported the heaviest wave of the tax. Yet on Sunday afternoon,
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with explosions ringing out every half hour, the Israeli military
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reported striking more than eighty targets in Tehran alone overnight Saturday,
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and by Sunday afternoon it set over two hundred and
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fifty targets and more than seven hundred and twenty components
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had been struck. The targets appeared to indicate an expansion
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of Israel's war aims beyond the Iranian nuclear facility that
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consumed the first days of the conflict. By striking Iranian industry,
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local security forces, and infrastructure, Israel is aiming to degrade
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the Iranian state, further damage the country's already reeling economy,
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and possibly trigger regime change. According to analysts and former officials,
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the shift appeared to begin Saturday night with strikes on
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energy infrastructure. Israel attack Iran's South Pars, the world's largest
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natural gas field, partially suspending production and igniting a fire.
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Other attack on a fuel depot outside Tehran ignited a
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massive blaze that drew a crowd snapping mobile video and photos. Elsewhere, Sunday,
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strikes hit airports, electronics manufacturing plants, police stations, and airplane
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maintenance site in an office that coordinated Tehran's mosques. According
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to social media video and state media reports, many of
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the aftermath videos from urban areas showed strike locations just
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yards away traffic and pedestrians. Ron's Health ministry said two
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hundred and twenty four people have been killed in the
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attacks since Friday. In Mashad, a city on Iran's eastern
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edge near the border with Turkmenistan, a strike hit a
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small regional airport. Ali a forty five year old computer
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engineer and a local resident, said he could see plumes
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of smoke from the roof of his building. I wouldn't
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think that they strike as far as Mashad. I am
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in so much shock. I'm trying to understand what they
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are pursuing with these kinds of attacks, he told The
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Washington Post in a phone interview. He, like others, spoke
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on the condition that he only be identified by his
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first name for fear of retribution. He said many of
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his friends and family were happy when the first Israeli
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strikes took out senior Iranian military leaders, but now thinks
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you're moving toward a much higher destruction, he said, wondering
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what Israel was targeting with the dozens of tacks across
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the country. Are they trying to increase rage to provoke
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the Islamic Republic to accept any kind of deal? I
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really can't understand. Tehran residents also reported a number of
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explosions that appeared to target single vehicles in the city,
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stoking suspicion that targeted killings were being carried out with
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car bombs or small drone attacks. It sure does feel
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like this is a regime changing ending rather than taking
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out the nuclear program, said Richard Nephew, a former State
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Department and White House official in the Obama administration specializing
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in Iran. Israel may have decided that the best way
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to prevent Ron from obtaining a nuclear weapon was to
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topple the Iranian regime, he said, but caution that such
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a strategy was a high risk maneuver. A lot of
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things have to go right to make that work. A
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lot of assumptions about Iranian power structures have to play out,
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he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nettunahu and his allies
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have framed the conflict as an opportunity to remove the
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Islamic regime and have sighted polls that showed the majority
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of Iranians disapprove of the government. A speech on Saturday
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that Tayahu urged the people of Iran to stand up
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and let your voices be heard. The time has come
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for you to unite around your flag and your historic
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legacy by standing up for your freedom from an evil
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and oppressive regime. It has never been weaker, Netayahu said,
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Israel's fight is not with you, the brave people of Iran,
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whom we respect and admire. Our fight is with our
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common enemy, a murderish regime that boy as you and
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impoverishes you. Others said the focus of the military remained
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the nuclear facilities. Regime change is not the primary goal
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of the Israeli operation against Iran, said Josi Kuperwasser, a
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former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, But he said, if
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the regime change were to occur in Iran, nobody in
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Israel is going to complain. We did carry out attacks
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today against the regime facilities, especially those belonging to the
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Revolutionary Guard, but this is mostly in context of fighting
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the war, not in the context of bringing about the
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collapse of the regime, he said. Israeli attacks on Iran's
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nuclear facilities early Friday, damaged some of the above ground
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infrastructure at the sites, but did not appear to have
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eliminated enrichment centrifuges or enriched material buried deep under according
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to a post analysis of satellite imagery. Iran responded to
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the steppedup attacks by announcing a number of emergency response measures.
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On Sunday, the Tehran metro system was ordered to stay
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open twenty four hours so residents could use the stations
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as shelters overnight. Unlike Israeli cities, Iranian cities don't have
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bomb shelters. Without exaggeration. We are in a state of war,
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a war that has been imposed on us. We did
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not war and tried to prevent it, said Fatima Mujuradi,
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an Iranian government spokesperson. According to a statement carried by
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state media, Mujihurani said mosques and schools in Iranian cities
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were also ordered open to act as shelters, but it's
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unclear what protection the buildings will provide they're not underground.
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The expansion of strikes to include energy infrastructure sent shockwaves
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through Iran's Persian Gulf neighbors and the oil markets they supply.
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The situation is very concerning, said Amina Baker, a senior
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Middle East analyst with the Shipping Trade Analytics for Kapur.
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Because the South Pars gas field is shared with Cutter,
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she said the attack was an alarming sign of how
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close GUFF assets are to the conflict. So far, Baker
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said the strikes have only impacted Iran's domestic energy production
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because the country does an export gas from South Pars,
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and Israeli strikes have spared infrastructure associated with oil exports.
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Global oil price shifts are based on panic over what
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might happen, rather than a change in the fundamentals, she said.
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Regardless of Israel's larger war aims, the rapid expansion of
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targets and Iran demonstrates in Netanyahu is prepared to move quickly,
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perhaps fearful that the wide international latitude his operations have
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so far been granted could suddenly evaporate. According to Farzan Sebet,
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a researcher focusing on Middle East security at the Geneva
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Graduate Institute, a Swiss research institute, it's not inevitable that
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his political space will always exist in terms of US
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support and in terms of international pressure. He said, now
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that they have air superiority, they have the political space
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to operate, They're going to use it. Sabat said that
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by targeting electronics, aviation, and aerospace, Israel is attempting to
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focus on bottlenecks in various key industries that support Iran's nuclear, missile,
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drone and air defense industries, and by striking critical industry,
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Israel is not only disarming Iran, but the attacks are
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also making it more difficult and more expensive for Iran
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to ever rearm, he said. As the strikes picked up Sunday,
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Israel issued an order telling the Iranian people to move
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away from military installations. Many Iranians responded with confusion in
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online posts. Get away from military areas, we don't know
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where they are, one man wrote in an Instagram comment.
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In Tehran, many decided the best way to respond to
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the order and the stepped up strikes was to leave
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the city. The main roads leading out of the capitol
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were choked with traffic Sunday, according to people on the
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roads interviewed by the Post, Iranian security forces set up checkpoints,
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and in at least one location, a scuffle broke out
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between fleeing civilians and plain clothes Iranian officers. Cheria, a
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thirty year old housewife and the mother of five year
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old twins, said security forces at the checkpoints were hassling
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fleeing civilians as she and her family left Tehran to
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their vacation home outside the city. The raids are from
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the air, and these nutheads are looking into a normal
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citizen's car on land to find Israeli spies. They are
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such fools, she said. On top of everything, we are
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not safe from our own government either. And the next
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story is the US could lose more immigrants than it
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gains for the first time in fifty years. For the
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first time in at least half a century, more people
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may leave the United States than arrive this year, an
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abrupt shift in immigration patterns with potentially significant implications for
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the US economy. Economists at two Washington think tanks expect
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President Trump's immigration policies to drive this reversal, from the
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near time total shutdown of the southern border to threats
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to international students and the loss of legal status for
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many newer rivals. According to a forthcoming paper, arise in
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deportations the aim of recent workplace raids that triggered protests
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in Los Angeles and other cities also plays a role.
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A net outflow of immigrants could stoke inflation, a risk
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economists already expect from Trump's tariff policies. It also could
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renew the type of labor shortages the country experienced during
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the pandemic. Longer term, it could even have implications for
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physcal policy, with fewer immigrants paying taxes and supporting entitlement
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programs such as Social Security, said one of the economists
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when the Edelberg for the year as a whole, I
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think it's likely that immigration will be negative, Edelburg said.
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It certainly would be the first time in more than
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fifty years. Edelburg and her colleague Tara Watson at the
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Center Left Brookings Institution are working with Stan Vueger of
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the Conservative American Enterprise Institute on the paper, which is
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due out this month. Their projections point to an increased
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likelihood of negative immigration in twenty twenty five compared with
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the economist's last projections published in December. White House spokesman
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Kush Decide said more than one in ten young adults
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in America are neither employed, nor in the higher education
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or pursuing some vocational training. There's no shortage of American
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minds and hands to grow the labor force at President
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Trump's agenda to create jobs for American workers represents this
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administration's commitment to capitalizing on the untapped potential while delivering
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on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws, he said
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in a statement. Economists across the political spectrum expect the
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United States this year will experience the lowest immigration levels
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in decades, and some agree there's a real possibility that
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migrant outflows will eclipse inflows. Migration levels last reached to
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a long time load during the twenty eight financial crisis,
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which sparked a mass departure of Mexican immigrants. It's not
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about deportation so much, viewer said, It's really just that
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inflows are down so much, not just at the southern border,
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but also through various legal programs. Already, the foreign born
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workforce has shrunk by more than one million people since March.
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Labor Department data shows the figures, though are not adjusted
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for seasonal trends. That's a sharp reversal from a recent
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surge in immigration that in twenty twenty four pushed the
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share of foreign born workers in the US labor force
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to the highest level on record, fueling the country's economic
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stres after the pandemic. The drop off is poised to
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disproportionately hit sectors such as agriculture, construction, and hospitality, which
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depend on immigrant workers. This month, the Tobyan Leon Cooperman
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Sinai Residences, a retirement community in Boca Raton, Florida, laid
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off more than ten workers from Haiti and Cuba. CEO
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Rachel Blumberg said because of a Trump administration decision revoking
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their temporary protections and work permits. Bloomberg is preparing to
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lose close to forty workers altogether, including certified nursing assistants, cooks, housekeepers, janitors,
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and groundskeepers when the termination of a separate program that
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granted Haitian's temporary protected status takes effect in early August.
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We are heartbroken. Their sudden removal is both destabilizing and
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deeply unjust, said Bluem, who expects her labor cost arise
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by six hundred thousand dollars a year as she tries
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to attack new workers with higher wages. Unfortunately, higher cost
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will be passed on to the residence of every senior
23:13
living facility in the entire country that's effected. The scale
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of the potential exodus depends on the extent to which
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the Trump administration can deliver on its goal of removing
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one million migrants this year, including those who legally entered
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under Biden error programs but have since lost their status.
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A GOP backed spending bill passed by the House last
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month and now pending in the Senate would allocate one
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hundred and fifty billion dollars for immigration enforcement to dramatically
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boost the scale and pace of the president's mass deportation agenda. Separately,
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the inflow of hundreds of thousands of international students could
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be blunted the Secretary of State Marco Rubio makes good
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on his threat to revoke student visas for Chinese nationals.
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Trump said this past week the Chinese students are welcome
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following progress on trade talks. In May, the administration cut
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off Harvard University's ability to admit international students, although a
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court temporarily blocked that decision. Yet, the administration faces other hurdles.
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Court interventions and protests, including those that have erupted in
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Los Angeles and other cities, could hindered the administration's goals.
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The administration last week ordered to pause on the crackdown
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on the agricultural industry, as well as hotels and restaurants,
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according to a New York Times report Friday, after Trump
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said the industries among his key constituents had complained about
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losing workers. Experts say net immigration falling to zero and
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potentially going negative could mark a turn point in the
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country's demographic and economic trajectory, and an abrupt shift from
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the nearly three million net immigrants the United States gained
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just last year. According to the Census Bureau, immigration could
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become a drag on the US labor force for the
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first time in fifty years. Experts save federal policymakers, say
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they're already seeing a slowdown that weighs on the economy.
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Immigration has slowed sharply since last year, Federal Reserve Governor
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Adriana Kugler said in a speech this month, the shrinking
25:35
the labor supply and potentially pushing up inflation by the
25:38
end of the year in industry such as agriculture, construction,
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and hospitality. So far, however, there's little evidence that this
25:47
is translated into higher wages, she cautioned. In addition to
25:52
ceiling off the US Mexican border. The White House has
25:55
revoked protections and work authorizations for more than half a
25:59
million immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The administration
26:06
has also largely ended refugee admissions, and in recent weeks,
26:10
officials have banned the entry of foreigners from a dozen countries.
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The administration has also imposed three billion dollars in fines
26:19
on undocumented people for failing to leave the country, while
26:24
forgiving those fees and offering fleet free flights, and one
26:29
thousand dollars to those who self deport using a government app.
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Lasting immigration slowdown could limit economic growth because fewer workers
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leads to a weaker economic output. The workforce is already
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growing more slowly than it did ten or twenty years
26:47
ago as the bulls of baby boomers reach retirement age.
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Tighter immigration would slow the growth of the labor force further.
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If you take those people away time when demographics are
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resulting in a lack of replacement for retired workers, that's
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all a recipe for higher inflation, said Job Brasilius, chief
27:10
economist at RSM. Some workers are choosing to leave on
27:15
their own. One woman who spoke on the condition of
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anonymity because she fears retribution. Fled Colorado with her family
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for their native Venezuela in March, fearing the Trump administrations
27:29
cracked down, and because the Department of Homeland Security denied
27:32
her a work permit. She had cleaned a restaurant for
27:35
fifteen dollars an hour, and her husband juggled construction jobs.
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She and her husband had entered the country legally with
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their two young children in twenty twenty three under President
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Joe Biden's humanitarian parole program. It was a very difficult
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decision to leave, she said in a phone call from Venezuela.
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But I was afraid that they would catch me and
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my husband and the kids would be left in school.
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They would be alone, and it would be difficult for
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us to find them again. And the next story, suspect
28:11
in Minnesota shootings is in custody after a wide man hunt.
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The man suspected of shooting two Democratic lawmakers and their
28:20
spouses in their homes and what officials describe as politically
28:24
motivated attacks, was arrested and charged Sunday evening after authorities
28:29
scoured the rural area around where he had a home.
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After a sprawling man hunt involving more than one hundred
28:35
officers for nearly two days. Authorities had been searching for
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fifty seven year old Vance Luther Boltger, a resident of
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green Isle, Minnesota, a small town in Sibley County, about
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forty five miles southwest of the Twin Cities. The search
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began after a gunman opened fire on State Senator John
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Hoffman and his wife in the quiet Minneapolis suburb Champlain
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early Saturday, before driving about ten miles to the neighboring
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suburb of Brooklyn Park, home of the state Representative Melissa Hortman,
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the former speaker of the Minnesota House. Hortman and her
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husband Mark were shot and killed, while Hoffman and his wife,
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Yvette survived and remained hospitalized in serious condition. The suspect
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in the case posed as a police officer to gain
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entry to the homes of the two lawmakers. Authorities have
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said the gunman fled after a shootout with police following
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the second of the two pre dawn attacks, leaving behind
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a chilling trove of evidence and a sprawling police search.
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Earlier on Sunday, law enforcement authorities in green Isle found
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another car associated with Botler and seized belongings they believed relevant.
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At about nine pm local time, law enforcement apprehended Bolter.
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A grim faced Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz, the Democrat, said
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that violence cannot be the way the country deals with
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its political differences. After announcing the apprehension of Vance Boltler
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on suspicion of killing a lawmaker and her husband, one
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man's unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota, all said.
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Bolter was charged with two counts of second degree murder
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and two counts of attempted second degree murder, according to
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a complaint unsealed by the Hennepin County District Court Sunday night.
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The FBI will review whether federal charges should also be issued,
30:38
said Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of
30:42
Criminal Apprehension. Police said they have not found evidence of
30:47
Bolter making previous threats to politicians. They have not found
30:51
a traditional manifesto associated with Bolter laying out a motive
30:56
for the crimes. Still, authorities believe that the shootings were
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deliberate and targeted. Officials have said they found in one
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of Bolter's cars a roster of dozens of names, including
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Democratic lawmakers, and people who are supportive of abortion rights
31:14
and other liberal causes. They also found no kings flyers,
31:19
sparking worries for law enforcement that the suspect may have
31:24
wanted to attack one of the Saturday gatherings protesting President Trump.
31:30
The list included Senator Tina Smith, Democratic Minnesota, prominent abortion
31:36
rights advocate, and according to a Democratic lawmaker from Wisconsin,
31:41
at least eleven Democratic legislatures from that state. Of the
31:46
names on the list came across the Midwest, including Michigan, Illinois,
31:50
and Iowa. According to Evans, as part of their investigations,
31:56
officials spoke with Bolter's wife and family members, who were
32:00
cooperative and were not taken into custody, Evan said earlier
32:03
Sunday at a Minneapolis home where Bolter rented a room.
32:08
His housemates were also interviewed by law enforcement. Interviews and
32:13
a review of Bolter's online presence paint a picture of
32:17
a man who had a hodgepodge of work experiences, embraced
32:21
his born again Christian faith, and split his time between
32:25
his rural home and a place in Minneapolis. At times,
32:30
he seems to have played up his security qualifications while
32:34
paying his bills by working at funeral homes. Bolter reveled
32:39
in his plans to start a security firm, went to
32:42
church weekly, offered to help anyone, and sometimes complained about
32:46
democratic politicians, said David Carlson, his roommate and lifelong friend.
32:53
Because of the distance from the green Isle home Bolter
32:56
shared with his wife, he had been staying at Carlson's
32:59
home in Minneapolis a couple of nights a week for
33:02
the past year or so when he was working on
33:04
call shifts at funeral homes. Bolter quit a few months
33:09
ago so he could take a two week trip to Africa,
33:12
where he hoped to open up a security business. When
33:16
he returned, he took a job extracting eyeballs from dead
33:20
bodies for organ donation. Carlson said after returning from Africa,
33:26
he seemed to be struggling a little bit, but he
33:30
exhibited no signs he would commit violence. Carlson said he
33:34
wasn't as cheerful as he used to be. Carlson said
33:37
he had a job and everything, and he was doing okay.
33:41
Bolter was trying to set up an armed home security
33:44
company called Praetorian Guard Security Services, but he struggled to
33:49
get the business off the ground. Carlson said. On its website,
33:53
Praetorian touts that the firm uses vehicles that looked just
33:57
like police SUV's. That was just vance. Carlson said, he
34:03
would just try to get things started. Oh, I bought
34:06
the two security cars. But he had no clients and
34:09
he had no business. He had no employees. He wasn't
34:12
doing security for anybody. It wasn't his job. Carlson said
34:17
he did not recall every hearing Bolter talk about Hortman
34:20
or Hoffman, the two state lawmakers who were attacked, but
34:24
Bolter sometimes disparaged other Democrats. Carlson said he didn't like
34:30
Nancy Pelosi, he said, referring to the California congresswoman and
34:34
former Speaker of the House. He didn't like Tim Walls,
34:38
and he didn't like former President Biden. Bolter's comments were
34:43
ordinary complaints about politicians, and he didn't express extreme views,
34:48
Carlson said. He said Bolter supported Trump and tuned into
34:52
programming from Alex Jones's conspiracy filled info war site. Bolter
34:59
would be offended if anyone called him a Democrat. His
35:02
room met said. Bolter became a born again Christian in
35:06
high school. Carlson said, he just changed everything in his life,
35:09
one hundred percent. Everything in his life. He just changed,
35:14
and he was preaching in the park and living in
35:16
a park in a tent. He remains religious. It is
35:20
a very caring, loving person, Carlson said. According to a
35:26
twenty twenty three sermon that was streamed online, Bolter told
35:29
the congregation he met Jesus when he was seventeen and
35:35
printed pamphlets about his experience so he could spread the
35:39
word of God. He told the congregation to recognize God's
35:43
plan for them when I die and go to heaven,
35:47
and go to heaven, I don't want to just listen
35:50
to the other people tell their stories, he said. I
35:53
want to have my own story to tell. Carlson said
35:57
he last spoke with Bolt about seven pm Friday, when
36:00
he talked to him through the door of his room.
36:03
Bolter said he was already in bed so he would
36:06
be well rested for his overnight job, Carlson said, and
36:11
the shootings occurred several hours later. Bolter returned to their
36:15
Minneapolis home about six am Saturday. According to home footage
36:19
securities footage that Carlson described, he said one of Bolter's
36:24
car windows had been smashed out and a hammer was
36:27
left on the passenger side of the car. That day,
36:31
Bolter sent a text to Carlson and another friend, telling
36:35
them he loved them. Carlson said, I made some choices,
36:40
and you guys don't know anything about this, but I'm
36:44
going to be gone for a while, Bolter wrote, according
36:47
to Carlson, maybe dead shortly. So I just want to
36:51
let you know I love you guys both, and I
36:54
wish it hadn't gone this way. Carlson said he Bolter
37:00
but couldn't reach him, and then he called the police.
37:03
He said. Saturday afternoon, officers in an armored truck broke
37:07
down the door to Carlton in Bolter's home and smashed
37:11
out the windows. At a news conference Saturday, Walls called
37:15
Horton's killing a politically motivated assassination. As of Sunday afternoon,
37:22
Wals had not received a call from Trump about the shootings,
37:25
a person close to the governor said, speaking on the
37:28
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
37:32
Biden and Vice President J. D. Vance called and spoke
37:36
with the governor on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Trump
37:40
told an ABC News reporter that he thought Walls was
37:44
a terrible governor. I think he's a grossly incompetent person,
37:49
and then was noncommittal on whether he would offer support.
37:53
But I may, I may call him, I may call
37:56
other people too. Trump said the White House did not
38:00
respond to questions about whom the President had called about
38:03
the shootings and searched for the suspect. Trump said Saturday
38:07
afternoon in a truth social post that he had been
38:11
briefed on the shooting and promised the Justice Department would
38:14
prosecute anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law.
38:18
Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United
38:22
States of America, he wrote. The Hoffmans were each shot
38:28
multiple times and underwent emergency surgery. A relative, Matt Olig,
38:33
wrote in a Facebook post and confirmed to The Washington Post,
38:37
Yvette Hoffman threw herself on her daughter, using her body
38:41
as a shield to save her life. According to Olig,
38:44
the couple's nephew, Yvette Hoffman said she was hit by
38:48
eight bullets while her husband took nine. Her husband is
38:54
having more surgeries, but is closer every hour to being
38:58
out of the woods. She wrote in a text message
39:00
that Senator Amy Klobacher, the Democrat of Minnesota, posted online.
39:06
Clobacher described Hoffman as a French he grew close to,
39:09
as a fellow mother in politics, and a public servant
39:12
committed to bettering their state. Melissa Hortman is the most
39:17
incredible person that I wish everyone in the nation knew,
39:21
Clobachure said Sunday on CNN State of the Nation, State
39:25
of the Union. She described the late Democratic leader's work
39:28
on landmark legislation to provide free school lunches and paid
39:33
family leave, and experiences as a Sunday school teacher and
39:37
Girl Scout leader, she was extraordinary. Walls ordered Minnesota flags
39:45
to fly at half staff Saturday in honor of Hortman,
39:48
who he described as the most consequential speaker in state history.
39:54
On Sunday morning, to FBI agents and a state agent
39:58
returned to the Minneapolis home where Bolter resided a couple
40:01
of times a week. They were there for another round
40:04
of interviews with Carlson and another roommate. Afterward, Carlson spoke
40:10
to reporters on his doorstep for about twenty five minutes.
40:14
He said he wanted the public to have a fuller
40:16
picture of the caring person whom he still considers his
40:19
best friend. I just want you guys to just not
40:23
say crazy right winger gone nuts, And that was what
40:28
he is, you know, he said. You know, it just
40:31
bothers me that this is his legacy. But I knew,
40:34
I knew him my whole life. He was a good guy.
40:39
He broke into tears and stepped back into his home.
40:44
And our next story tariffs, Israel and Trump likely topics
40:49
as an ANTSYG seven leaders meet in Canada. Leaders of
40:56
the world's major economies will gather here Monday, hoping to
41:00
persuade a mercurical US president to preserve long standing alliances
41:05
and calm majitery global landscape, but in some cases are
41:10
willing to go their own way if they do not succeed.
41:13
President Trump will attend this year's Group of Seventh summit
41:16
in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, a mid deep
41:20
anxiety among the United States traditional economic allies. These nations
41:25
hope to persuade him to continue scaling back the punishing
41:29
tariffs he has imposed across the world, but they also
41:32
aim to avoid the kind of confrontation that some world
41:36
leaders have set off while meeting with Trump in his
41:39
first and second terms. International economic uncertainty has expanded in
41:45
Trump's second term. In April, he announced the highest UF
41:51
terraces in a century, only to suspend them for ninety
41:54
days to permit negotiations for new trade deals. Only the
41:59
United Kingdom has achieved a framework of a deal, while
42:03
China and the US have agreed to trade war truce
42:08
while they pursue a broader negotiation. The G seven has
42:12
historically served as a forum for the free world's strongest
42:16
economies to talk about their shared interests on trade, security,
42:21
and climate policy, but Trump has upended those interests by
42:25
imposing tariffs, arguing for the annexation of Canada as the
42:29
fifty first state, and threatening to use military force to
42:33
take over Greenland, a mineral rich island territory controlled by Denmark.
42:40
Even on the conflict between and Israel, those dueling missile
42:45
strikes are sure to dominate discussions in Canada. The US
42:49
is in some ways out of sync with the rest
42:51
of the G seven members. Other nations are generally tougher
42:55
on Israel because of humanitarian concerns in Gaza, and they
43:00
also see themselves as tougher on Iran because so many
43:03
of them backed the deal struck by President Obama and
43:07
blown up by Trump in his first term to contain
43:11
Iran's nuclear program. Similar to dynamics hang over the war
43:16
in Ukraine, with Trump less inclined than some allies to
43:21
help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. Ukrainian President Vladimir
43:26
Zelensky has been invited to the g seventh summit and
43:30
plans to meet with Trump on the sidelines to discuss
43:33
ongoing support for his besieged country. The White House confirmed
43:38
Sunday that Trump will meet with Zelensky and separately with
43:42
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Karney and Mexican President Claudia Schinbaum, who,
43:48
like Zelenski, was invited to the summit by Karne. The
43:53
challenge for the other leaders, those of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
44:01
and the United Kingdom, will be to coax Trump into
44:04
a detent of sort without arguing and angering him. There
44:10
is no interest in structuring a confrontation or provoking a
44:14
confrontation with President Trump, said Jannis Stein, a political science
44:18
professor an international relations expert at the University of Toronto,
44:24
that is the common denominator no one wants that. Perhaps
44:30
no one more exemplifies the pressure's in tensions facing G
44:34
seven leaders preparing to engage with Trump this week than
44:38
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Carney, leader of Canada's Liberal Party,
44:44
is making his G seven debut as prime minister at
44:47
this week's summit after fending off a conservative opponent in
44:51
the April election dominated by voter anger toward Trump. As
44:57
the leader of the host nation, Carney is under mo
45:00
more pressure than others to prevent the summit from blowing up.
45:04
With Canada sending nearly eighty percent of its exports to
45:07
the United States and the two countries sharing the world's
45:11
longest undefended border. He also has more at stake than
45:15
other members in trying to persuade Trump to relax tariffs
45:19
that have uphended his country's economy. To that end, Carney
45:25
and his team decided not to issue a joint communica
45:28
out of the G seven, a likely reflection of the
45:32
differences among the members. The gathering will also not feature
45:36
a specific session on climate change, a notable omission given
45:41
Carne's plast advocacy for green energy investment, but a strategic
45:46
one given how much the topic irritated Trump at his
45:49
first G seven meeting in Italy. Instead, the Canadians will
45:54
indirectly raise the issue in other parts of the agenda,
45:57
including a meeting on wildfires. It was a wonderful choice,
46:03
said John Curtin, a foreign policy expert at the University
46:07
of Toronto. You can do a great deal about wildfires,
46:12
and on which President Trump would agree without even mentioning
46:16
in a written document of the outcome of the world's
46:19
climate change or global warming, or greenhouse gas emission or
46:23
carbon dioxide or any of that stuff ed. Carney is
46:29
also hinted at a desire to move on without Trump
46:32
or the US if talks fall short. Trump's threat of
46:37
to use economic force to make Canada the fifty first
46:40
state sent Canadian approval of the United States into a
46:44
tailspin and spurred boycotts of US goods and travel. Only
46:49
thirty four percent of Canadians had a favorable view of
46:53
the US, according to a Pew Research survey, down from
46:57
fifty four percent last year. Carney rode that wave of
47:02
discontent to victory in April. A former central banker, he
47:07
cast himself as an experienced crisis manager who was best
47:11
placed to take on the US President. Trump, he said
47:15
while campaigning, is trying to break US, so America can
47:20
own us. The Prime Minister has also said that Canada
47:25
would assume a leadership role on the world stage if
47:29
the US retreats further into america First isolationism, and he
47:34
would work to build a coalition of like minded countries
47:38
with shared values and a belief in the free and
47:41
open exchange of goods, services, and ideas. Carney has shown
47:46
a deafness in managing Trump, and the pair appear to
47:50
get along better than the US president did with Carney's predecessor,
47:54
Justin Trudeau. The two have spoken privately about a new
47:58
trade relationship. Pete Hokstra, the U s Ambassaard Canada, has
48:03
said Trump also has not called Carniate governor as he
48:09
did with Trudeau, and at a meeting at the Oval
48:12
Office last month, Carne at times sought to tickle Trump's
48:16
ego by describing him as transformational as a president, though
48:22
he has declined subsequently to say whether he meant it
48:26
in a good or bad way. Carney also pushed back
48:29
on the president's fifty first state rhetoric, telling Trump that
48:33
Canada is not for sale and won't be for sale ever.
48:38
Oh never, say never, Trump replied. Although the G seven
48:43
was founded to focus largely on economic issues, global security
48:47
is also certain to arise this week, especially given renewed
48:52
hostilities between Iran and Israel and the ongoing war between
48:56
Russia and Ukraine. Trump's unwell willingness to commit resources for
49:02
Ukraine and his drumbeat of demands that the US NATO's
49:06
allies pony up more defense spending are among the possible topics.
49:12
Carney has been seeing seeking to diversify trade in defense
49:16
partnerships with Europe to reduce his country's reliance on the US,
49:21
announcing last week that Canada, a long time laggard, would
49:26
meet its NATO defense spending target this year, several years
49:31
ahead of schedule. The move was necessary, in part, Carney said,
49:36
because the country is too reliant on the US for
49:39
its security. It also removed from the table, a long
49:43
standing irritant in the bilateral relationship. Ahead of the summit.
49:48
There is some evidence that tariffs will not come up
49:52
directly in talks, but rather serve as a subtext in discussions.
49:56
Of economic cooperation. The word tariff never appears in the
50:02
communicay that emerged from last month's meeting of the G
50:05
seven finance ministers and central bank governors in Banff. Candidate
50:11
I don't think tariffs are going to be part of
50:13
the group discussion at all. I think the Canadians are
50:17
going to avoid it like the plague, and others will
50:20
agree because there's nothing to be gained by discussing it
50:23
in this forum, said Michael Smart, who worked on international
50:28
economic issues for President George W. Bush and is now
50:32
Managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors in Washington. One
50:37
reason is the history of conflict Trump brought to such
50:40
summits during his first term. A key challenge for the
50:45
USG seven partners is Trump's deep antipathy for the kind
50:50
of international cooperation that the organization promotes and that Trump
50:55
says routinely disadvantages the United States. At the G seven
51:01
in Italy in twenty seventeen, the United States refused to
51:05
join the other nations in pledging to implement the Paris
51:09
Climate Agreement, an early signal of how Trump's position on
51:13
climate would royal further gatherings. A twenty eighteen NATO summit
51:19
descended into chaos after Trump demanded allies double their defense
51:25
spending and blasted them over breakfast, deepening fears about the
51:30
potential crumbling of the security alliance, and after the last
51:34
G seven gathering Canada in twenty eighteen, Trump blasted Trudeau
51:39
as very dishonest and weak and said he would withdraw
51:43
from the joint statement he had back just hours before.
51:47
It may help this time that several leaders with whom
51:51
Trump had difficult relationships in his first term, Angela Merkel
51:55
in Germany, Trudeau and Canada have been replaced by pa
52:00
people whom with whom he gets along better. The new
52:03
German Chancellor, Frederick mrs had a positive visit to Washington
52:07
this month and concluded that the Trump administration listens. It's
52:12
prepared to accept other opinions, but you can't let them
52:16
intimidate you. And finally, Canada's forests may be burning faster
52:22
than they can grow back. Hundreds of wildfires are burning
52:27
in Canada, and they could change the way the country looks.
52:31
Scientists say the blazes could transform parts of the Canadian
52:35
landscape as more intense and more frequent fires push forests
52:40
to adapt and prevent certain common Canadian trees from regrowing.
52:45
More than two hundred fires burned across Canada as of Saturday,
52:50
they're smoke sweeping across oceans and continents. More than eighty
52:55
of them are burning out of control, According to the
52:59
Canadian interer Aation Agency forest Fire Center, fire is part
53:03
of the Canadian landscape. Millions of acres can burn each year,
53:08
and the country's native plants are hardwired to endure the
53:11
effects of wildfire to an extent, But as is the
53:17
case with most wildfire prone areas, drier conditions and warmer
53:22
weather due to climate change are making these fires more
53:26
frequent and hotter. You've got too many fires in close succession,
53:31
said Marc Andre Parisienne, a wildfire research scientist with a
53:36
Canadian Forest Service. The trees just kind of can't keep up.
53:42
It depends on what kind of tree is facing fire.
53:45
The white spruce and evergreen that can grow more than
53:48
one hundred and eighty feet tall doesn't fare well and
53:52
fire filled environments, said Ellen Whitman, also a fire research
53:57
scientist with Forest Service. Trees such as the jackpine and
54:02
the lodge pole pine are more resilient to fire, she said,
54:06
but young trees are often the weakest after a blaze.
54:10
If you burn that young stand before it has cones,
54:14
or before it has enough cones, the regeneration will be
54:18
very poor, Whitman said. In twenty twenty three, record breaking
54:23
fires tore through the country, burning more than forty five
54:26
million acres in all thirteen provinces and territories. The following
54:31
year bought more conflagrations, including a blaze in Alberta that
54:37
burn more than eighty thousand acres Jasper National Park, famous
54:42
for its alpine lakes and thick forests. Months later, the
54:47
trees were still charred, but new greenery had begun to grow.
54:52
Landon Shepherd of the Canadian Parks told CTV last year,
54:58
it is going to become beautiful in its own way.
55:00
Shepherd said that could happen as a shift to grasslands
55:05
or savannah in some parts of the country instead of
55:08
the tall forests Canada is known for. This would in
55:12
some ways be a return to the past, said Parisian,
55:15
and not necessarily a bad things. Some of these areas
55:19
weren't nearly as forested in the past, he said, and
55:23
that was partially because people burned a lot of the land.
55:27
A twenty twenty study Parisian co wrote with Nature found
55:31
that decades of fire suppression to protect lives and homes
55:34
and parts of Canada had increased wildfire risk and the
55:38
potential severity of the blazes. For centuries, people allowed forests
55:44
to burn, making fires less intense because they happened more frequently.
55:49
For example, Parisian said, Indigenous peoples used to start control
55:54
fires in the area known as Wood Buffalo National Park
55:57
in the early spring when the snow made burning us risky.
56:01
This created patches of land that were kept open, encouraging
56:05
bison to graze and berries to grow. Now the place
56:09
is more of a thick coniferous force that could burn
56:12
had high intensity. I used to think, oh my god,
56:16
the trees are gone. It's so bad, Parisian said. But
56:19
now I've changed my mind. Maybe in a lot of
56:22
cases it's not so bad. In the early twentieth century,
56:27
as people began to settle and build deeper into the forests,
56:30
fires were more often suppressed. You have to protect the
56:35
people by putting out the fires, Parisian said. But putting
56:39
out the fires today may leave issues tomorrow. Still, researchers
56:44
acknowledge we can't just go back to how things were.
56:48
We're moving to a place that has no historical analog,
56:51
said Mike Flanagan, the science director of the Canadian Partnership
56:55
for wild Land Fire Science at the University of Alberta.
57:00
We're in new territory, uncharted territory as climate change has
57:05
exacerbated wildfires pace and scale. The fires are burning in
57:11
Canada and will host a Group of Seven summit on
57:14
Monday in Calgary, Alberta. It will not feature a specific
57:18
discussion on climate change. The topic irritated President Trump at
57:22
the first G seven meeting attended in Italy. A senior
57:26
Canadian government official said that the subject would be integrated
57:30
into other sessions on wildfires and building the critical mineral
57:34
supply chains needed for the energy transition. Those most affected
57:41
by the fires in Canada feel they have the least
57:44
input in managing and preventing them. Though Indigenous people represent
57:50
only about five percent of Canada's population, forty two percent
57:55
of the wildfire evacuations between nineteen eighty and twenty twenty
57:59
one occurred in indigenous communities, according to an article published
58:04
last year in the International Journal of Wildland Fire and
58:09
This concludes the reading of the Washington Post for today, Monday,
58:13
June sixteenth. Your reader for today has been Rod Brotherton.
58:17
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning the program,
58:20
please feel free to call us at A five nine
58:23
four two two sixty three ninety. Thank you for listening,
58:28
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
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on Radio I