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Why the House still has no speaker — and what happens next · Apple News Today

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  Gideon Resnick, Narrating: Good morning! It's Wednesday, January 4th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shumita Basu, this is "Apple News Today." On today's show, why Brazil is reviving a fraud case against incoming Congressman George Santos, how video games contribute to gambling problems, and what people a hundred years ago predicted for 2023.
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  But first, the 118th Congress got off to a contentious start yesterday. After three rounds of voting, Kevin McCarthy failed to get enough support from his Republican colleagues to become the next House Speaker. It is the first time in a century that the House has adjourned without electing a Speaker. A position that isn't just third in line to the presidency but is also necessary to swear in members of Congress and begin the process of legislating. To become House Speaker, McCarthy needs 218 votes. And yesterday, he got 203 in the first two rounds of voting. And in the third round, he lost the support of one more member, bringing his total votes down to 202.
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  The reasons for Republican opposition are varied, but a lot of the pushback is from more conservative members. Among the Republicans opposing McCarthy's bid for Speaker are folks like Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Scott Perry. Here's Gaetz talking with reporters yesterday.
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  Matt Gaetz: Those of us who will not be voting for Kevin McCarthy today take no joy in this discomfort that this moment has brought. But if you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise.
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  Voting resumes today. And it's not clear what plan B is if McCarthy still can't secure the 218 votes he needs, or how long this could all take. "The Hill" points out that in 1856, it took two months and 133 rounds of voting to elect Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts as Speaker of the House. Yesterday, before the voting even started, it seemed clear that McCarthy could be in some trouble. We talked through some of the hypotheticals of what could happen if he needed multiple rounds of voting with Natalie Andrews, a congressional reporter for "The Wall Street Journal."
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  Natalie Andrews: I've talked to a lot of Republicans who think that if it goes to a few ballots and Kevin McCarthy hasn't been able to change votes, then you may see house Republicans call like an emergency meeting, kind of an emergency family meeting. They go down to the Capitol basement, they have some discussions.
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  McCarthy has vowed to fight on and said former President Trump still supports his bid, even as some of the former president's allies are his biggest detractors.
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  Let's stick with Congressional news and turn now to an ongoing story about New York Republican George Santos. After he was elected in November, news broke that Santos lied about his background, professional experience, and education on the campaign trail. For example, he claimed that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, that he graduated from New York University, that he was wealthy, biracial, and a descendant of Holocaust survivors. All of these claims are false.
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  And this week, it was reported that authorities in Brazil are trying to reinstate a fraud charge against Santos for more than a decade ago. Camila DeChalus is "The Washington Post" reporter who brought us this story.
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  Camila Dechalus: Now that prosecutors are looking into a case that dated back to 2008 that involved him and allegedly him paying for goods with a stolen checkbook. Those are serious offenses. And so, this is just something that now given light that this new congressman is under intense investigation, not only from federal prosecutors in the US but now abroad, this is something that people are really taking seriously and should be paying attention to.
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  Prosecutors in Brazil allege that Santos spent $700 at a clothing store using a stolen checkbook and a fake name. The investigation was suspended after authorities couldn't track down Santos. If convicted, Santos could face up to five years in prison, but it's more likely that he would pay a fine.
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  "The Post" points out that the most serious question marks about Santos have to do with his finances and campaign spending. In a financial disclosure from 2020, Santos claimed no assets or earned income. In 2022, his disclosure said he was worth millions.
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  Dechalus: The legal issue of this is that when you run for office, you have to file these financial disclosure forms, and you have to do so as accurately as possible. But if he knowingly filed these financial disclosure forms knowing that he was fabricating and lying on these, then he could potentially have broken a number of laws. And that is something that now federal prosecutors are investigating.
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  It's unknown if the House Ethics Committee plans to investigate Santos. Republican leadership hasn't commented on the issue. But Attorneys General in New York are looking into whether or not Santos broke any laws in their jurisdiction. Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, said that he will introduce legislation that would require candidates for federal office to provide details regarding education, employment, and military history under oath.
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  Dechalus: There's never been a bill that really requires lawmakers or congressional candidates to disclose their education and work history under oath. This has been told since the story's come out, some people have come to defense just saying that it's common for people in politics to tell white lies or exaggerate their resume. But this really shows that there really is no exact law in place that will prevent a sitting member of Congress or someone running for office to tell very bold and exaggerated lies about their work history.
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  Congressman Torres is calling the bill the "Stop Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker Act," or the SANTOS Act for short.
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  Gambling and gaming problems are on the rise among young men and boys. Between all the time spent on the internet during the pandemic, the legalization of sports betting, and the normalization of elements in video games that mimic gambling, counselors and therapists are concerned. Here's Clare Ansberry, a reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" who recently wrote about this.
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  Clare Ansberry: Young men are more prone to be high risk. They're more competitive, they're more impulsive. With the sports betting and the online sports gaming, they study the games. They study the players. They feel in control.
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  Ansberry spoke with experts who say a big part of the problem is that the lines between gaming and gambling are getting increasingly blurry. Video games may start off free, but a lot of them have incorporated ways for players to make Vegas-like purchases along the way.
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  Ansberry: These fantasy games have incorporated gambling-like elements, roulette wheels, dice, poker. "Wheels of Fortune" they call them. And what these features allow them to do is to spend money to get a chance to spin the wheel that would allow them to win equipment or swords, armor, things that would help them become a better competitor in that game.
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  Ansberry spoke with one man named Jonathan Jones for this story. By the time he turned twenty, he'd spent close to $40,000 playing video games. He says it all started when he was in 5th grade. He would use his lunch money on video game purchases. But he was addicted and was desperate for more money that he could spend in his games.
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  Ansberry: He said he never really considered it gambling. He associated that with casinos or horse-racing tracks. He eventually, and he stole from his parents, he went through all this savings, his parents had bought him stock, he cashed that out. If he had to buy a textbook in college, he said it cost a hundred when it only cost fifty and used the difference to play games.
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  The videogaming industry says that gaming is not the same as gambling because gambling includes chance. And many parents, the Journal notes, are more concerned about drugs and alcohol. Some teens and young adults can gamble as a hobby without developing issues. Though, the people Ansberry spoke to for her reporting say gambling and gaming are linked.
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  Ansberry: Other people who feel that it really is an incentive for kids. I mean, and again, remember these are kids and their brains are not fully developed to control impulsive behavior. They're just gonna keep on wanting to spin and to play to make them the best.
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  As for Jonathan Jones, he started seeing a therapist and traded in his smart phone for a flip phone. He says parents need to take more seriously just how addictive and damaging gambling in video games can be.
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  2023 will be the year that people are so beautiful there will be no more need for beauty contests. It will also be the year that cancer is eradicated, and the year the radio will replace gasoline. Now, that is according predictions made a hundred years ago in the year 1923 about what life would be like today a century later.
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  Paul Fairie found those predictions along with several others by going through old newspaper clippings. He's a researcher and instructor at the University of Calgary who told "NPR" he digs through newspaper archives as a hobby.
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  Most of the predictions, unsurprisingly, feel pretty far off, but others are actually pretty spot on. One writer predicted we'd have quote, "watch-size radio telephones." Another writer and scientist predicted we'd have the internet and even smart phones.
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  Other predictions Fairie found include the end of newspapers, flying cars, of course, that there would be no need for hard work by 2023, and that we'd all have four hour work days. We still hope. Uh, but maybe the funniest one that by the year 2023 men will curl their hair, and women will quote "probably" be shaving their heads. I guess some people had big dreams for the future and others just had big dreams for their barbers.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app, stick around. We've got a narrated article coming up next, and this is one that is good for anyone planning a New Year's resolution around healthy eating habits. "Scientific American" recently looked into the science of how we burn calories and highlights some surprising new studies upending our beliefs. So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and we'll be back here with the news tomorrow.
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