Transcript

8.18.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good Monday morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of
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the Washington Post for this Monday, the eighteenth of August.
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And as you know, Radio I is a reading service
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intended for people who are blind or have other disabilities
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that make it difficult to read printed material. And since
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it's Monday, you know that we start by reading Paul
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Prather's weekly column from the Lexington Herald Leader. This week's
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article is entitled this might be the most misunderstood passage
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in the Bible. The midweek Bible study group at our
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church returns to Ephesians every few years, largely because it's
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my favorite book in all of Scripture. Being leader, I
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get to decide what will study. Ephesians is a remarkable
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divided almost fifty to fifty between two trains of thought.
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The first half of the letter is a magisterial revel
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from God's power and grace. It soars into the heavens.
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The second half is a back down to earth discussion
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of what this revelation should look like in our daily lives.
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If the first half of Ephesians is true, then how
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do we live that out? It's the nuts and bolts
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do this Not that Ephesians is also, quite possibly the
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most reviled and most frequently misrepresented of New Testament letters,
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or at least one lengthy passage of it, is that's
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a portion in the second half that, among other things,
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tells wives to obey their husbands. What uniformly gets overlooked
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in the ensuing gnashing of teeth, gloating, and general ugliness
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by modern readers is that this commandment to admit nearly
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always gets taken out of context by its champions and
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foes alike. It's actually part of a larger and even
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more radical teaching. More on that momentarily, first, a caveat
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tradition held for almost two thousand years that Ephesians was
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written by Saint Paul, who has always been a lightning
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rod for controversy in his own time and hours. But contemporarily,
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Bible scholars can test Paul's authorship. For instance, and an
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introduction to the New Testament by renowned scholar Raymond E.
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Brown estimates that seventy to eighty percent of modern critical
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readership rejects Paul as the writer. Normally, I genuflect more
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learned heads than mine, of which there are myriad, but
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I stick with tradition here I refer to Paul as
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the author because that's what the Church believed for millennia,
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and because that's what I still believe. So back to business.
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Did Paul really tell wives to treat their husbands as
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if he were Jesus Christ in the flesh? Uh? Yep yep.
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Literally he did. But as the saying goes, context is everything,
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and in this case, the context is a doozy. Paul
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isn't picking on women, He's not deifying men. He's saying
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something entirely different, something so revolutionary that if we understood it,
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it probably would horrify our twenty first American sensibilities far
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more than his alleged sexism. Paul's real message remains as
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foreign to the American Church as it was to the
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first century Romans, Greeks, and Jews. As nearly as I
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can tell, on this count, we've made zero spiritual progress
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in the past two thousand years. Remember, in the second
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half of Ephesians, he's telling us how to bring the eternal,
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other worldly values of Heaven's kingdom down to the crusty,
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corrupt old planet we live on. One of his main admonishments,
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which serves as the topic sentence for a section on
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family and work relationships is be subject to one another
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and the reverence of Christ. For him, each of us
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is to quit seeking our own good as our primary aim.
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Each of us is to quit stoking his own ego,
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to instead become a humble servant to others, even when
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the cast to us is dear. To women, he says,
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honor your husband, seek his good. Treat him as you
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would treat Jesus himself. Then he immediately turns to men.
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Do you see yourself as the head of your household?
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This was something his first century audience took absolutely for granted. Well,
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then treat your wife as Jesus treated his church. Jesus
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gave up an exalted position, serve the church and all
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things up to and including laying down his very life
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for it. Men, go act thusly. Next, he turns to parents,
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and especially fathers. Serve your children, he says, don't make
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them angry, bring them up in a nurturing manner in
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the wisdom of the Lord. And Then children, he says,
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become servants to your parents, Respect and obey them. He
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moves to slavery, which is another stance for which he's
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often wrongly pilloried. By some estimates, more than half of
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the early Christians were slaves, So Paul isn't speaking theoretically here.
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He's writing to people he knows, worships with, and loves. Elsewhere,
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Paul tells slaves that if they have the opportunity to
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gain their freedom, they should take it. But while you
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find yourselves confined as slave, he says, here, serve your
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Master with a sincere heart during your work as unto
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the Lord. Remember that even in this unfortunate position, you're
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representing Jesus, who can be glorified only through love, humility, mercy.
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To the comparatively few slave owners in the church, Paul says, remember,
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you're no more important to God than the people you enslave.
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Quit threatening them. You'll answer to the same God. In short,
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humble yourselves. Paul's message to all of these people is
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exactly the same, whether they're wives, husbands, parents, slaves, or
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slave owners. You can't glorify God while guarding your rights,
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stoking your ego, or browbeating your supposed inferiors. You glorify God,
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you introduce His kingdom into the world by voluntarily becoming
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the inferior. That's what Jesus did when he left Heaven,
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came to Earth, and died as a criminal. Paul's teaching
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is plain stated, yet it's been reviled and distorted by
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men and women alike, by theolog theological progressives, and reactionaries.
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Hardly anybody even seems to recognize it because it's premise
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runs counter to everything we've been taught from birth. Give
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up our rights, become servants instead, bolder eddash if it matters.
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I don't find what Paul says in Ephesian's any easier
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to put into practice than anyone else does. I fail miserably,
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but I think he was right. And as you know,
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Paul Pray through his pastor of Bethesia, turcair Mount Sterling,
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you can email him at pr atpd at yahoo dot com.
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Now let's look at the headlines for today. Our lead
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story amid press you're on Zelensky to make deal, US
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to offer some security guarantees. US Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff
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said Sunday ahead of a planned meeting at the White
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House with Ukrainian President Vlodimir Zelensky and European leaders that
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President Trump and Russian President Kutin agreed to robust security
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guarantees during their summit in Alaska last week. The United
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States is potentially prepared to be able to give Article
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five security guarantees, but not from NATO directly from the
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United States and other European countries, Witkoff said in a
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Fox News Sunday interview. Under Article five of the NATO Treaty,
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if a member country is attacked, each member of the
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Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed
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attack against all members and will take the action it
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deems necessary. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, has
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been seeking support from allies since Russia launched its full
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scale invasion in twenty twenty two. Witkoff said the security
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guaranteed deal would be further discussed among the United States, Zelenski,
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and European allies during the Monday afternoon meeting in Washington.
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European leaders will be joining that meeting to present a
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unified front to help Zelensky navigate what Ukrainians anticipate could
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be a high stakes and potentially emotional meeting on which
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Ukraine's future could hinge. Separately, the US is hoping that
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a trilateral meeting with Trump, Putin, and Zelensky take place
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this week, according to a White House official. The official, however,
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or caution that the White House does not necessarily expect
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Monday's meeting to result in that. The official spoke on
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the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning. Working out
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the precise implementation of security guarantees is likely to be
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a lengthy process, which could allow Putin to continue his
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war while details are finalized. Zelenski, speaking alongside European Commission
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President Ursulevanderlein in Brussels on Sunday, said it was impossible
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to enter into negotiations with Moscow under the pressure of weapons, insisting,
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as before, the full cease fire must be in place
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before any discussions. Trump met with Putin in Anchorage on Friday,
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after which Trump dropped his demand for a ceasefire, instead
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calling for a final peace deal. Trump also told allies
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that Putin wanted all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as
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a condition for ending the war, including areas Russian soldiers
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have not managed to seize during years of fighting. Zelenski
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added that he was grateful for American appearing willingness to
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join in providing future security guarantees, but said more details
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need to be hammered out, such as what the United
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States role would be, what role European countries would play,
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vonder Lean, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutti, French President Emmanuel Macron,
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British Prime Minister kir starmer German Chancellor Frederick Mrs, Italian
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Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stoppe all
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confirmed Sunny that they will join Zelensky on Monday. The
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decision by Europe's top leaders to join Zolensky at his
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White House meeting, a dramatic, high profile gesture, undermines the
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importance of the conversation that will take place between Trump
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and Zelensky and the need to drastically change the trajectory
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of the peace negotiations. While in Brussels, Zelensky is also
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set to meet virtually with the Coalition of the Willing,
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a group of European allies planning to back any future
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settlement of the war, including with troops. Von Dulan said
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European leaders welcomed Trump's willingness to contribute to Article five
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light security guarantees for Ukraine, but said that Kiev must
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receive enough weaponry so that it would become a steel porcupine,
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undigestible for potential invaders. She also reiter rated Europe's position
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that international borders cannot be changed by force and that
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only Ukraine had the right to make decisions concerning its territory. Still,
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the Zelensky meeting with Trump may not be easy going.
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President Zelensky of Ukraine can end the war with Russia
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almost immediately if he wants to, or, he continued, can
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continue to fight, Trump posted Sunday night on his social
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media platform Truth Social. Remember how it started, Trump said,
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adding that there would be no getting back Crimea, which
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Russia annexed in twenty fourteen. No going into NATO by Ukraine.
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But he then followed up by noting the large delegation
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attending on Monday. Never had so many European leaders at
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one time. My great honor to host them, he said
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later a post. After arriving in Washington late Sunday, Zelenski
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said in a post on x that peace must be lasting,
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unlike in the aftermath of twenty fourteen, when Ukraine was
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forced to give up Crimea and part of our east
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part of don Bass, and Putin simply used it as
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a springboard for a new attack. Thanking Trump, he said
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he hoped our joint strength with America, with our European
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friends will force Russia into a real peace. Witkof noted
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Sunday that the Russians agreed that they would not try
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to take any additional land from Ukraine after any peace deal,
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they would attest to not violating any European borders. So
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we got through quite a bit, and there's a whole
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lot more. Witkough at him. He, along with Secretary of
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State Marco Rubio, flanked Trump during a roughly three hour
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discussion and anchorage with Putin and two of his senior
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advisors on Sunday. Rubio also backed up Ukraine's need to
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seek such guarantees. Ukraine is a sovereign country. They have
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a right like every sovereign country does in the world,
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to enter into security alliances with other countries to prevent
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an invasion in the future, to prevent threats to their
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national security, Rubio said on CBS's Space The Nation. He
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also added that both countries would have to give up
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some of their demands to get a deal. It will
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require both sides to make concessions. It will require both
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sides to get things they're asking for. That's how these
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deals are made, whether we like it or not, Rubio
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said on CBS, it's just a fact, and there are
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things that maybe Russia is holding now that they're going
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to have to give up. Zelenski and his European backers
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have long called for a ceasefire instead of a final
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settlement with European allies, saying that Ukraine cannot negotiate while
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under attack, but Rubio, speaking to host Maria Bartiromo on
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Fox's Sunday Morning Futures, said Sunday that the Trump administration
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never promised that Friday's summit with Putin would result in
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a ceasefire deal. That meeting, he said, was the first
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of several steps before finalizing any agreement. Rubio would not
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go into detail about what the US would like to
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see in a security guarantee, but said that it would
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be a very big move by Trump if he offers
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a US commitment. Rubio raised the possibility that the United
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States could still tough in its stance against Russia if
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it doesn't negotiate a peace deal. Look, if we're not
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going to be able to reach an agreement here at
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any point, then there are going to be consequences, not
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only the consequences of the war continuing, but the consequences
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of all those sanctions continuing, potentially new sanctions on top
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of it as well, Rubio said in an interview on
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NBC's Meets the Press, stressing that negotiators have to first
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try for a peace deal. Several members of Congress on
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both sides of the Isle to call for more support
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to Ukraine, and the Alaska Summit has done little to
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dissuade them. Donald Trump got flattened by Vladimir Putin when
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it comes to Ukraine and our European allies. This was
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a setback, said Senator Chris Van Holland, Democrat American of Maryland,
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who sat on ABC this week. He called on the
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Senate to move forward by partisan legislation to impose new
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sanctions on Russia. Ski will tread a fine line. On Monday,
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experts and Ukrainian political figure said having to take care
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not to anger Trump while at the same time convincing
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him that his recent proposals for an end of the
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Ukraine Russia war are unworkable. Foremost in Ukrainian's minds is
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avoiding a repetition of a contigious meeting at the Oval
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Office in February that included Vice President J. D. Vance
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that dissolved into a shouting match and gravely damaged Kiev's
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position with the US. Ally, Vance is expected to join
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the Monday meeting with Zelenski. Trump Administration official SID, speaking
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on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. This
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time around. Vance's posture might be more tactful than his
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tone in February. Is fresh off more than a week
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in Britain, where he engaged in a friendly diploma In
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recent days with British and other European officials, British Foreign
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Secretary David Lammy, Advance this month hosted a meeting at
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Lammy's country home with other European officials, including representatives from Ukraine,
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to strategize ahead of Trump's meeting with Putin and Alaska.
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European officials are still worried about the demeanor Trump will
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present on Monday after the Anchorage meeting, widely seen as
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a public relations victory for Putin, including a red carpet
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welcome from Trump. One European official, speaking on the condition
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of anonymity to discuss sensitive Matters said he was surprised
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that Trump appeared to so easily dropped the leverage he
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had against Putin, especially considering the increasing pressure that the
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Russian economy is under because of inflation and sky high
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interest rates, which have caused many Russia business leaders to
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warn of impending bankruptcies. Trump threatened to levy tough sanctions
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on Russia this month, but those plans did not materialize
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as Trump and Putin prepared to meet. Trump had also
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threatened severe consequences if Putin didn't agree to a cease
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fire during the Alaska summit, but backed off those demands.
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But the fact that the summit meeting with Putin had
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ended early, while the US leader stated in an interview
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after the summit that he could return to the question
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of imposing sanctions targeting Russia in two or three weeks,
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was a sign that Putin had not been able to
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win over Trump completely, the official set. A Ukrainian official,
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also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters,
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said it would be impossible for Zelenski to agree to
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any deal that would force seating Donbas. We are not
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going to put one million Ukrainians into occupation the official
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sid It's unbelievable that it's even possible to propose anything
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like that in the modern world. Unfortunately, there is such risk, indeed,
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of a repeat that scene from earlier this year, said
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mike Koya Blaskov, a research fellow at the government link
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Ukrainian National Institute for Strategic Studies. It seems that Putin
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managed to build a case in Trump's mind in Alaska
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that it's Ukraine that should make major concessions for peace.
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Zelensky needs to strike a bout between being non provocative
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in his defense of ukraine national's interest but still mindful
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of promoting those interests, Lesikov said. Having European leaders at
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the meeting would also level the negotiating balance, said Vladimir Fresenko,
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head of the Kiev based think tank at PENTA Center
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for Applied Political Studies. The European leaders can look out
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Verzalinski and reduce the tension if necessary, Fasenko said, Ukraine
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and its European allies might find themselves. Pasinko said, on
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what I called the Trump roller coaster, first it goes
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in one direction and then in another. He took putin
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side in Alaska, and before that in July, he took
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our side. Now he needs to be returned to our
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side again, at least partially, he said. And the next story.
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Mass protests erupted in Israel as the IDF ready's plans
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to occupy Gaza City from Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands is
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Israeli's stayed home from work, flooded city streets, and blocked
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roads and highways across the country on Sunday, according to
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local media, staging some of the largest anti war protests
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in months. As the military prepares for a major assault
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on Gaza City, the humanitarian crisis there deepens and anxiety
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mounts over the conditions of the hostages still in captivity.
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The widespread strike on Sunday, a work day in Israel,
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was organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an
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umbrella group representing many families or current or former Israeli hostages.
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The group called for action in response to the government's
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decision this month to seize control of Gaza's largest city,
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an operation that could take months and involve the forced
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displacement of an estimated one million Palestinians. Senior military leaders
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and a growing number of Israeli citizens opposed the plan,
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worried that it would endanger the twenty hostages the authorities
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presume are still alive, strain army resources and road prospects
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for recovering the bodies of thirty more hostages who were
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either killed in the Hamas attacks of murder on October seventh,
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twenty twenty three, or have since died in captivity. Hundreds
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of thousands of Israeli citizens will shut down the country
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today with one clear call, bring back the fifty hostages
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and the war, the forum said. By nightfall, in Tel Aviv,
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Israel's cultural and financial hub, massive crowds it marched down
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one of the city's main boulevards and then gathered in
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the plaza now known as Hostages Square. Equal demand, stop
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the fire. Protesters chant refuse, refuse, save the hostages, they yelled.
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The calls came as Il Zamir, the chief of staff
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for the Israel Defense Forces, met with senior military commanders
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in Gaza on Sunday. Today. We are approving the plan
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for the next phase of the war, which will focus
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on Gaza City, he said, according to an IDF readout
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of the meeting. Later, after a special meeting of the
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Gaza Division headquarters in southern Israel, Zamir finalized and approved
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operation plans for capturing Gaza City, according to Israel's public
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broadcaster CAN. The Chant reported that the campaign would roll
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out in several phases and take roughly four months to complete.
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Defence Minister Israel Katz is expected to review and green
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light the operation in the coming days, after which it
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will be presented to the Cabinet, is Israeli media reporting,
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but as those discussions were underway, major tech companies, some businesses,
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and a body of civil aviation workers said they would
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allow employees to go on strike Sunday. Israel's main trade
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union federation, the hissed Tadurut, declined to participate, though chairman
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Aaron bon David joined protesters in Tel Aviv to show solidarity,
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declaring a strike would have colored this struggle as a
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political struggle, and that is the last time I want
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to happen, he told relatives of hostages there. This is
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not about right or left. It is about human beings,
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bringing back those who were kidnapped from their beds, from
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their shifts, or from their tanks. The demonstrations kick off
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early in cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well
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as outside Kibbutzbiri, a community alongside the perimeter with Gaza
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that was overrun by Palestinian terrorists on October seventh, twenty
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twenty three. That day, Hamas and allied groups streamed into
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southern Israel, murdered about twelve hundred people and took about
28:25
two hundred and fifty hostages back to the Gaza strip.
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Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza, which has lasted twenty two months,
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has killed more than sixty one thousand people, according to
28:38
local health officials. It has also leveled large swaths of
28:43
the enclave and plunged the area into a humanitarian crisis. Israelis,
28:51
especially in Tel Aviv, have protested regularly throughout the war
28:56
to call on the government to reach a deal with
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Hamas to bring the hostages home. Enough is enough, said
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Ayashilon Hadas, a doctor at Shiba Tel Halshumer Medical Center,
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who joined hundreds of health workers in a march in
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Tel Aviv. You will can't build a society or trust
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one another when our brothers and sisters are abandoned. While
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the bloodshed continues on both sides, The war must stop.
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Chief opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including Le Lapad,
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a member of the centrist yesh Atchid party, and former
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Defense Minister Yov Gallant Or out with the crowds in
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Tel Aviv on Sunday, meeting with the hostage families. Former
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hostages were also at the protest, including Arbel Yehud, thirty,
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who was held for more than a year by Palestinian
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Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza, before she
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was released in January during a two month seas fire.
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My partner Ariel Kunio and his brother David, along with
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forty eight other hostages, are still there in captivity in Gaza,
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she told the crowd. According to the family's forum, I
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know firsthand what it's like to be in captivity. I
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know that military pressure doesn't bring hostages back, it only
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kills them. Yehoud appeared with five other freed hostages, as
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well as the widow of one who was killed in captivity,
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in a video screened at the protest late Sunday in English.
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They appealed to President Trump. A key ally of the
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Prime Minister, yr Horn forty seven, was released earlier this year,
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but his younger brother, thirty eight year old Ettian, remains
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in captivity. You have the power to make history, to
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be the president of peace who ends the war, ends
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the suffering and brings every hostage home, including my little brother,
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Horn said. Several local governments, through their support behind the
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Sunday's protest. Tel Aviv canceled some cultural activities and shut
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swimming pools, and the municipality in nearby Heriliza said it
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would bust residents to the main protest. Sunday night, protesters
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blocked highways and key intersections throughout the country, bringing traffic
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in parts of Tel Aviv to a standstill. Everyone home now,
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protesters shouted, staring down the cars. One frustrated driver in
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an air conditioned technician named Eli, who was on his
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way home and on his way too work, got out
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of his car to try to negotiate with protesters to
32:04
move out of the way. What is terrible for everyone,
32:08
but we need to secure our lives here, he said
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in an interview, speaking on the condition that his last
32:14
name be witheld for fear of retaliation. It is either
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us or them, he added, of the Palestinians in Gossa,
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calling on Israel to eliminate them all, from young to old.
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It helps Humas what they are doing, he said of
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the protests. It doesn't help us, it disrupts our lives.
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Police said they would not allow protesters to block roads
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without proper authorization, and in some places scuffled with and
32:47
physically removed by the demonstrators. By early afternoon, police had
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arrested thirty eight people, the Spokesperson's units said in a statement. Netanyahu,
32:58
who spoke Sandya had the cabinet meeting, said the protesters
33:02
were prolonging the war. Those who today are calling to
33:08
end the war without the defeat of Hamas are only
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hardening Hamas's stance and pushing further away the release of
33:17
our hostages. They are also ensuring that the atrocities of
33:22
October seventh will be repeated and that we will have
33:28
to fight an endless war, he said. Meanwhile, Israeli forces
33:34
have stepped up their bombardment of Gaza City, residents and
33:38
medic said, focusing their strikes on the southern neighborhood of Zaytun,
33:44
one of the city's largest emergency personnel and local media
33:49
have in recent days reported intense bombing in the area,
33:54
forcing much of the population out. Gaza's Civil Defense Force
34:00
describe the strikes and shelling as relentless and said that
34:04
ambulances have been unable to reach most of the people,
34:07
it says are trapped under the rubble in nearby Al
34:11
Shifa Hospital, director of Mohammed Abu Salminia said dozens of
34:18
injured and dead had arrived over the preceding twenty four hours,
34:22
including casualties from the shelling in Zaitun and those who
34:26
had been shot while trying to retrieve aid from humanitarian
34:30
convoys at the Zikim border crossing in the north Zayatillery
34:37
airstrikes and fire are almost constant. It's horrific. They never stop,
34:43
said Mohammed Rabi forty two, a dentist displaced from Zaitun
34:49
to the Rimal area in the western part of Gaza City.
34:54
Sometimes it stops for ten minutes or so, then starts again,
34:58
he said. Israel said Saturday that it was preparing to
35:03
move people from combat zones to southern Gaza, and that
35:06
it would begin allowing humanitarian organizations to bring tints into
35:11
the enclave to facilitate the move. Khan, the Israeli broadcaster,
35:17
reported Sunday that the forced evacuation of civilians could begin
35:22
in as little as two weeks. UN Human rights chief
35:27
Vulgar Turk said earlier this month that the planned operation
35:32
would violate international law. It will result in more massive
35:38
forced displacements, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction, and
35:46
atrocity crimes, he said in a statement and the next story.
35:52
Suspects in Texas ice shooting tied to trans anti fascist
35:59
activism from Dallas. Just after dusk on July fifth, a
36:06
crash of wood and metals suddenly reverberated through a predominantly
36:10
black and Latino neighborhood here known as the Bottoms. Neighbors
36:16
peered out to see a small army of men in
36:19
desert camouflage and tactical vests crouched behind a black armored vehicle,
36:25
shouting commands toward a brick house. A swat team had
36:30
smashed through the front door of the residents, which neighbors
36:34
say was occupied by several transgender women, part of a
36:39
group of activists who initially united around trans and queer
36:43
identity issues. Now, the women, dressed in bathrobes and pajamas,
36:48
were being detained at gunpoint, Neighbors said it was weird
36:54
enough that six or seven white trans people moved into
36:58
the neighborhood, said a neighbor, who spoke on the condition
37:01
of anonymity because of privacy concerns. He rolled a joint
37:06
and gazed at the plywood covered front window. Now the
37:11
FBI's raided in their house. The raid, they later learned,
37:16
was part of an investigation into a July fourth attack
37:20
outside the Prairie Land Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention facility
37:25
in Alvarado, Texas, and hours drive south. According to federal prosecutors,
37:32
the suspects set off fireworks and spray painted staff vehicles
37:37
just after ten thirty pm, then unloaded up to thirty
37:41
rounds of gunfire, wounding a police officer in the neck.
37:46
Eleven people have since been charged with tempted murder and
37:51
terrorism related offenses, and at least three others with aiding
37:56
their escape or concealing evidence. Inside the house in Dallas,
38:02
officers discovered nine firearms and a person wanted in connection
38:07
with the shooting, a transgender woman named Autumn Hill. According
38:12
to charging documents, The other residents were released without charges,
38:18
and ten days later authorities arrested Benjamin Song, thirty two
38:23
a Marine reservist turned anti fascist activist, and charged him
38:30
with firing one of the weapons recovered at the scene.
38:33
The Alverado attack is one of the most violent incidents
38:38
in a wave of assaults and threats against federal immigration
38:41
officers since President Trump launched an aggressive campaign to deport
38:46
undocumented immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security recorded seventy nine
38:52
assaults on ICE officers between January twenty first and June thirtieth,
38:58
authority said, compared to ten during the same period in
39:01
twenty twenty four under the Biden administration. Federal officials declined
39:08
to provide details about the incidents, dozens of which have
39:11
resulted in criminal charges, according to Washington Post review of
39:16
court records. According to that review, the vast majority involved
39:22
verbal threats in person or online, or physical altercations during
39:27
ICE arrests of immigrants that turned violent. The attack on
39:32
the Prairie Land facility stands out for the use of
39:36
firearms against federal officers and for the alleged perpetrators. The
39:41
Post's examination of the case found that the purported attackers
39:45
were among a secretive network a Dallas anti fascist, part
39:51
of a growing movement of far left political resistance that
39:55
some experts say has shown signs of increasing in violence
39:59
in the Trumpet era, the number of incidents is still
40:03
small compared to the much larger amount of right wing
40:07
violence in America, according to several studies, including a University
40:11
of Maryland examination that found far right extremists were responsible
40:17
for nearly twice as many violent acts as the far
40:20
left from nineteen forty eight through twenty eighteen. The Anti
40:26
Defamation League, which tracks extremist related killings, reported that three
40:32
hundred and twenty eight of four hundred and twenty nine
40:36
killings from twenty fifteen through twenty twenty four were perpetrated
40:41
by those associated with the far right. But violence involving
40:46
the left wing has been on the rise since Trump's
40:51
first election in twenty sixteen, said Daniel Byman, a Georgetown
40:56
University professor and terrorism expert at the Enter for Strategic
41:01
and International Studies. With Trump's second term in the White House,
41:06
he said, far right groups have turned their ire away
41:10
from government and toward liberal social causes, prompting left wing
41:16
extremist groups to organize to defend those groups and target
41:19
Trump's government. Both sides now see themselves as the shock
41:25
troops on the street, he said. According to interviews with
41:30
defense attorneys, friends, and associates, several of the people charged
41:35
in the Alvarado attack fit that description, with some training
41:39
under Song in self defense and firearms. Many met while
41:43
participating in the social justice demonstrations that swept the country
41:48
in twenty twenty after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, a
41:52
black man. They later organized protests as part of activist
41:58
groups named for John brynt On, the Civil War abolitionist,
42:02
and Emma Goldman, the Russian born anarchist, among others. As
42:08
conservatives and far right groups began protesting local drag shows
42:13
and abortion rights rallies, these leftists began showing up to
42:18
form a protective perimeter, often dressed in black clothing and
42:23
body armour and carrying guns. More recently, they turned their
42:28
attention to immigration enforcement. One person charged in the Prairie
42:33
Land case was arrested with flyers and his backpack reading
42:37
fight ice terror with class War and free all political prisoners,
42:45
according to federal charging documents. In announcing criminal charges on
42:51
July eighth against ten of the Prairie Land defendants, US
42:55
Attorney Nancy E. Larson described their actions as an n ambush,
43:01
but attorneys for two of the defendants accused prosecutors of
43:06
exaggerating the incident. The group had no plans to violently
43:11
attack the facility, they said. My understanding is that this
43:17
was intended as a protest. Let's go out and shoot
43:21
some fireworks and show the immigrant detainees support, said attorney
43:26
Philip Linder, who represents one of the defendants, Seth Sykes
43:31
of Kennindale, Texas, who was arrested walking away from the
43:35
facility with a handgun in his waistband and a disassembled
43:39
AR fifteen style rifle in a backpack. And then Linder said,
43:44
Ben Song surprised everyone and started shooting in public states. However,
43:52
prosecutors have indicated that they do not believe Song was
43:55
the only shooter. In the criminal complaints, they say the suspects,
44:00
dressed in black, used the fireworks and spray paint to
44:05
lure officers outside. As an Alvarado officer responded to the disturbance,
44:11
one shooter fired at him as he exited his vehicle,
44:15
while another unloaded twenty to thirty rounds at unarmed correctional
44:19
officers nearby. Authority said in a July eighth news release.
44:26
The Alvarado officer was treated at a Fort Worth hospital
44:29
and released. No one else was struck by the gunfire.
44:34
Investigators said shell casings recovered at the locations of boat
44:38
shooters were of a caliber typically used with AR fifteen
44:43
style rifles. Two rifles recovered near the scene were both
44:48
legally purchased by Song federal record show, and one had
44:53
a binary trigger that is used to double the rate
44:56
of fire. A defendant who was cooperating with authority told
45:00
investigators they recognized one of the guns as Songs based
45:05
on the rate of fire. This was not a peaceful protest. Larson,
45:11
the US attorney, said authorities arrested nine people almost immediately.
45:17
Sikes and seven others were found leaving the scene on foot,
45:21
while Megan Morris, a second transgender woman living at the
45:26
residence in the bottoms, was apprehended about a mile away
45:30
driving a van containing a pistol, an AR fifteen style rifle,
45:34
and a ballistic vest and helmet. Hill was arrested the
45:38
next day. During the rate of Bottoms. Song was arrested
45:43
on July fifteenth at a North Dallas apartment complex. Some
45:48
defendants are contesting elements of the government's account. For example,
45:53
the government has claimed it recovered twelve sets of body
45:56
armor at Alvarado that Patrick J. McLain, an attorney for
46:01
Zachary Everts of Watsahachie, Texas, who has been charged with terrorism,
46:06
said his client was wearing plastic pads designed for use
46:10
in pellet gun competitions. I'm offended by the terrorism charges
46:17
as a guy who participated in the War on Terror,
46:20
said McLean, who served twenty years the US military. They
46:26
weren't out there to hurt anybody, with the exception of
46:29
whoever was shooting at people. Ben Song had a different
46:34
agenda than anyone else there. During a thirty five minute
46:38
interview with the Post at the Johnson County Jail, Song
46:42
declined to discuss the circumstances of the protest at the
46:46
Ice facility or the charges against him, which included aggravated
46:51
assault on a public servant and aiding in commission of terrorism.
46:56
He was more willing to talk about his evolution from
46:59
concernervative Texas teen and regular Rush Limbaugh listener to a
47:03
far left activists. I commit to the things I believe in,
47:08
said Song, wearing leg shackles and speaking from behind a
47:12
reinforced glass window. Song grew up in the Dallas Fort
47:17
Worth area, the son of an attorney and a karate instructor.
47:21
His mother was conservative, so he was two. In twenty eleven,
47:26
he joined the US Marine Corps Reserves, achieving the rank
47:29
of Lance corporal, according to a spokesperson for the service.
47:34
He quit in twenty sixteen, however, after his superiors refused
47:39
to let him skip required drills so he could complete
47:42
college exams, and he received an other than honorable discharge.
47:49
Authorities alleged the Song retreated from the ice facility into
47:52
the woods. Smartphone location data, they said, suggests he spent
47:57
the night outdoors while law enforcement from the Cross Texas
48:02
flooded the usually quiet streets of Alvarado. Song declined to
48:07
confirm those details, but said that if he had escaped
48:10
on foot, he would have been aided by navigation skills
48:14
honed in the Marines, where he excelled at an exercise
48:18
that involved being dropped by a helicopter into a wooded
48:21
area in central Texas. As Song was separating from the Marines,
48:27
Trump was waging his first campaign for the presidency. Song
48:32
remembers Trumps accusing China of raping the United States in
48:36
trade and mocking Asian business negotiators and broken English. The
48:41
cenomphobic rhetoric led Song to question his allugence to the
48:46
Republican Party. I used to write off the accusations that
48:51
the Republican Party was racist, because here we are this
48:54
Asian family who are Republican, said Song, whose father is
48:59
of a Korean descense and whose mother is of Japanese descent.
49:03
Then you saw the racist rhetoric escalate with twenty sixteen
49:08
with Trump, Songs said. He drifted toward libertarian policies and
49:14
the socialist economic policies after taking classes at the Arlington
49:19
and Austin campuses of the University of Texas and souring
49:24
on free market capitalism, and he began communicating with an
49:29
online network of left its activists on the secretive social
49:33
media apps such as Signal and Discord, where he goes
49:37
by the moniker's bubbles and Champagne. Soon, Song was offering
49:43
military training to a group of anti fascist activists, some
49:47
of them transgender people, who were eager to learn the
49:52
hand to hand combat and gun handling skills displayed by
49:55
the right wing groups during the nationwide unrest in twenty twenty,
50:00
according to three people close to Song, during a weekly
50:04
session his mother's taekwondo studio in Arlington, Song trained students
50:10
for close quarters combat and large scale gunfights. According to
50:14
three associates, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out
50:18
of safety concerns, he told his students that the nation's
50:23
social fabric was freeing that the country was headed for
50:27
widespread violence, they said. Corey Lyon, a Dallas based photojournalist,
50:34
said he attended a handful of training sessions but recently
50:37
cut ties with Song because the sessions didn't seem safe.
50:42
The people that were showing up to learn from him
50:45
a lot were very young native leftists, said Lyon, who
50:50
self identified libertarian who works as a firearms trainer. They
50:55
were scared, and Ben was offering them a solution for
50:59
their fear. When the news of the Prairie Land shooting broke,
51:04
Lyon said he turned to his wife and said, I
51:07
hope that wasn't. Then the next day, while shopping for groceries,
51:12
a law enforcement alert seeking a fugitive lit up their phones.
51:16
Benjamin Haneil Song even in Texas, building acceptance and leftist
51:24
spaces for gun wielding anti fascists proved to be slow going.
51:28
At the Dallas Women's March in twenty seventeen, anti fascists
51:33
who arrived carrying firearms were turned away by organizers. But
51:38
later that year, after a counter demonstrator was killed during
51:42
the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, left wing organizers
51:47
in Dallas began to recognize the value of carrying a gun.
51:51
Lyon said that guns and friendly hands soon became a
51:55
welcome sight at some left wing events. This is Texas.
52:00
The other side has guns in droves and it's threatening
52:04
our community. So it's something we need to know, Lion said.
52:10
Those who belonged to Dallas's small universe of anti fascists
52:14
say activists routinely joined more than one group, and that
52:18
the groups often split into factions or disbanded. Song and
52:22
some of those arrested after the Prairie Land protest once
52:26
belonged to the Elm Fork chapter of the John Brown
52:29
Gun Club. The three people close to Song said in
52:33
twenty twenty three, the chapter effectively dissolved after an incident
52:38
at a drag brunch at a Fort Worth brewery. Three
52:43
members were arrested after one of them Pepper sprayed members
52:47
of the conservative group Project Texas Kids who were protesting
52:53
the drag show. Still, Song's combat classes continue to attract people,
52:59
including some who allegedly joined him in Alvarado. Among them
53:04
was Morris, forty one. According to protesters, the defendants met
53:08
at her house in the Bottoms before driving to Alverado.
53:13
In an interview with the Post via text from the
53:15
Johnson County jail, she declined to discuss specifics on the
53:20
charges against her or her motivations for going to Prairie Land,
53:24
but insisted the group was not planning to act violently.
53:29
I have a home, dogs and a found family I
53:33
love more than breathing. I would never agree to something
53:37
so outrageous that would put them in danger, she said.
53:43
Morris explained her decision to activism as a response to
53:47
the coursening national debate over transgender rights. I feel like
53:53
there's a target on my back whenever I'm out in public,
53:56
she said. Though Morris identifies as a woman and legally
54:01
changed her name in twenty oh seven, the government's complaint
54:05
identifies her by her birth name, and she's being housed
54:09
in a segregated room in the jails. Men's facility. She
54:13
said her jailers are refusing to provide hormone replacement medication therapy,
54:18
which helps her with recovery and health after gender transition care.
54:25
A jail spokesperson said via email that the Johnson County
54:29
Sheriff's Office strives to follow inmate protocols set by the
54:34
Texas Commission on Jail Standards and maintains a culture an
54:38
environment of dignity and integrity. Morris, she said already she
54:44
is in custody when her home was raided on July fifth,
54:48
Her wife, Stephanie Shiver thirty one, said in an interview
54:53
that she was in their bedroom when the police crashed
54:56
through the door, threw flashbangs into the kitchen and living room,
55:00
arrested Hill, and briefly detained Shriver and her roommates. Though
55:06
police say they found guns and Morris's van at home,
55:10
Shriver said the group's visit to the Prairie Land facility
55:13
was intended to demonstrate solidarity with the people inside. She
55:19
said the claim of a planned ambush is incredibly absurd.
55:25
Asked about the weapons, Shriver said she doesn't handle them herself,
55:30
but she said, I completely understand people wanting some sort
55:34
of self defense against being hated, crimes or the police.
55:42
Trump's aggressive crackdown since returning to the White House has
55:46
seen President Trump make immigration enforcement one of his top priorities.
55:50
He issued a series of executive orders that include declaring
55:54
a national emergency at the US Mexico border, deploying hundreds
55:59
of troops there, and attempting to end birthright citizenship for
56:04
the children of unauthorized immigrants and foreign visitors. The administration
56:09
has also largely closed access to the asylum process on
56:13
the southern border, suspended refugees resettlement, and ended temporary humanitarian
56:20
protection for thousands of people from countries including Venezuela, Honduras,
56:26
and Nicaragua. In March, Trump invoked a centuries old Alien
56:32
Enemies Act to remove Venezuelan migrants to a notorious jail
56:36
and l Salvador without a court hearing. The administration has
56:41
also removed migrants to conflict ridden South Sudan. Data shows
56:48
that immigration and customs enforcement officers are increasingly targeting migrants
56:54
with no criminal records. Trump promised during his campaign to
56:59
deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally,
57:02
and administration officials have directed US Immigration and custom Enforcement
57:06
officials to aggressively ramp up the number of people they
57:10
arrest from a few hundred a day to at least
57:13
three thousand. To meet those goals, the administration has enlisted
57:17
personnel from the FBI, US Marshals, the Drug Enforcement Administration,
57:23
and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. In July,
57:29
Congress passed a massive spending bill that will funnel nearly
57:32
one hundred and seventy billion dollars toward border security and
57:36
immigration enforcement. Those funds will allow the administration to hire
57:40
nearly twenty thousand immigration officers and double number of bids
57:45
available in immigration detention centers. And this concludes the reading
57:51
of the Washington Post for today, Monday, August eighteenth. Your
57:55
reader for today has been Rod Brotherton. If you have
57:58
any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program, please feel
58:04
free to call us at eight five nine four two
58:07
two sixty three ninety. Thank you again for listening, and
58:11
now please stay tuned for continued programming right here on
58:17
Radio I