Transcript

3.22.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Saturday,
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March twenty second of twenty twenty five. Your reader is
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Alice Stainer. Gary is still having eye problems, and I
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will remind you that radio has reading service for those
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with disabilities in holding or reading printed material. So I
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will start with the front page of Today's Washington Post.
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On the left side, Youngkin's effort to hire hits roadbumps.
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Virginia has jobs, but fire to federal workers, wants states
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needs may not meet. This is by Laura Mosella and
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Gregory sh Schneider out of Richmond. In the center of
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the front page, at the top, Sudanese soldiers celebrate after
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recapturing the presidential Palace in Khartoum from the Rapid Support
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Forces paramilitary It was a highly symbolic wind for government
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forces in the nation's civil war and will not be
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reading the story, but it shows people with fist raised
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and AK fifteen's up in the air. A big Sudanese
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victories signed in the window to the very right. Migrant
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agencies Migrant rights Agencies closing DHS says three offices impede
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its mission. Watchdogs Advocated investigated complaints. This is by Maria
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Chachetti and LS Silverman. Below the cartoon picture is Musks
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Ties to China Kate his Doze Roll by Kate Cadell.
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This is Pentagon meeting raises concerns about security business conflicts.
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And below the Younkin article is one about a DC
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police chief was a central player in tumultuous period. This
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is Jerry V. Wilson nineteen twenty eight to twenty twenty five.
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I won't be reading that, twey. And then there's a
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picture of a man in an early early version of
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an airplane with the bicycle tires Alberto Santos Duelmont, who
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Brazilians say made the first heavier than air flight in
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nineteen oh six. It's entitled Brazil's nationalist flight of fancy
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despite a pandemic consensus. Wright Brothers first comes under attacked.
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This is by Terence McCoy in Petropolis, Brazil. And then
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below the migrant rights agencies closings, judge schools, government over
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removal of migrants by Sylvia Fauster Frau and justin Juvenile.
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First article DHS shuts down internal watchdog agencies that advocated
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for immigrants. The three agencies had about three hundred employees
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and investigated complaints, including about detention conditions and delays in
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processing Green card and citizenship applications. And there is a
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picture of four people. The front is led by a
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woman Homeland Security Secretary christ L. Neim at the White
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House on March tenth. Behind her looks like a secret
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service gentleman. And then two other ladies, one carrying her
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cell phone. And you can see television camera on the
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right hand side or a camera camera on the right
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hand side. Maria by Mariah Shacchetti and Eli Siverman. The
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Department of Homeland Security is eradicating three internal watchdog agencies
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that investigated complaints and advocated for immigrants, calling the watchdogs
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roadblocks to immigrants enforcement. A spokeswoman said Friday the Department
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had ordered a reduction in force for the Office for
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Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsmen,
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and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Armbudsmen,
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essentially essentially eliminating them. According to DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin,
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she alleged that the three officers have instruct an obstructive
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immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles and undermining DHS's mission.
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Taken together, the agencies had about three hundred employees, a
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small share of the estimated two hundred and sixty thousand
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workers at the DHS. They handle thousands of complaints about
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the immigration system, including detention conditions, the care of migrant children,
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and delays in processing green card and citizenship applications. Their
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reports informed hosts and Senate oversight committees, and provided information
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to immigrants facing deportation in US immigration courts who are
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not entitled to public defenders. The Office for Civil Rights
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and Civil Liberties responsibility extended beyond demmigration to the more
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than twenty agencies inside the DHS, investigating their responses to
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natural disasters, cyber threats, and terrorism, all issues that are
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far more likely to affect US citizens. In one case,
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for instance, the office investigated a federal agent who mistreated
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a traveler in a wheelchair. The dismantling of this oversight
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comes as the Trump administration has embraced aggressive and unconventional
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tactics to dramatically increase immigration enforcement to meet the President's
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goal of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. Since taking office,
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Trump officials have unilaterally expanded the government's power to expel
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migrants without a court hearing. Forcibly removed hundreds of immigrants
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to jails and El Salvador and the Guantanamo Bay Naval
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Station in Cuba, and conscripted other agencies to arrest immigrants
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despite their inexperience with immigration laws. It's a big blow,
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said John Roth, who served as DHS Inspector General from
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twenty fourteen until he retired in late twenty seventeen, the
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first year of Trump's first term. They are the first
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lane of defense when it comes to oversight, Roth said.
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Analysis say the three shuttered agencies are among the few
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remaining independent checks on the department that not only enforces
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immigration law but also serves the American public by preventing
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terwrist attacks, mass shootings, and other calamities. The closures are
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expected to face legal challenges. Current and former employees say
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employees will be terminated within sixty days if they do
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not find another assignment inside the DHS, McLoughlin said. McGlothlin
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also said DHS remains committed to civil rights protections that
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must streamline oversight to remove roadblocks to enforcement. These reductions
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ensure taxpayer dollars support the department's core mission, border security
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and immigration enforcement. Rather than supporting law enforcement efforts, they
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often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations. In
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their annual reports, the agency said they provide a vital
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oversight that affected US citizens and immigrants alike, and responded
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to complaints that DHS officials had failed to resolve. Democrats
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on the host Homeland Security Committee criticized the move Friday,
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saying in a tweet that the Immigration is eliminating another
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office that could expose their constitutional, unconstitutional and illegal actions.
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The largest office, civil Rights and Civil Liberties, has more
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than one hundred and fifty staff members and a forty
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six million dollar budget, and it worked broadly to safeguard
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people's rights as the DHS vetted, detained, and prosecuted immigrants
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and US citizens. The office investigated sexual assaults inside detention centers,
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harassment of travelers through airports, on board of checkpoints, and
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rather the hiring officers are fairly processing job applications for
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minorities or disabled US veterans who work at many of
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the agencies. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, which
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has more than one hundred and twenty employees said it
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is a neutral entity that investigated more than eleven thousand
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complaints in twenty twenty three, the most recent report on
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its website completed twenty two inspections and issued eleven reports.
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Staffers traveled across the country into Mexico, and they erected
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billboards that rankled some Republicans. One said, your brother in
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immigration custody has rights. We are here to help the
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Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ambudsment said its
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forty five staffers were on track to handle a record
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thirteen thousand requests for help in physical twenty twenty four.
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Some people had applications for green cards or work permits
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wrongly rejected because of typos. Others were desperate to reunite
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with relatives. Still others were applying for US citizenship. Nearly
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a quarter of the requests that year were from people
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who were seeking to bring in immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua,
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and Venezuela on immigration Parole, a program that Trump administration terminated.
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Acting ombudsman Nathan Stifel said in the annual report to
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Congress in June, many of the requests are heart wrenching.
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Individuals detail the danger hunger and desperation that family members
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face in their home countries. In many cases, the investigations
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had little to do with immigration. For instance, the Office
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for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigated a twenty twenty
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one complaint at Matami International Airport that a Customs and
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Board A Protection officer inappropriately questioned a woman's use of
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a wheelchair, demanding proof of her disability while she was
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returning to the United States. Investigators reviewed video and audio
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recordings and found that the officer made inappropriate questions and
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comments about her disability and physical appearance. The incident prompted
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c b P to improve training for screening people with disabilities,
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according to the officer's website. An official at the Office
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of Emigration Detention Mbudsman who spoke on the condition of
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Anne in nympity to discuss the internal process, said employees
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were called to an emergency meeting with twenty minutes notice
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by the and told they were being placed on administrative leap.
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The person said the DHSS rationale is senseless since the
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agency's oversight spots unlawful behavior and contract fraud and probably
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saves the government money by preventing lawsuits. The official said
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this is only for cruelty. You don't fire organizations that
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save the agency money. Below that article is the one
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judge calls trump use of Alien Enemies Act problematic and concerning.
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A Justice Department attorney was grilled at a court hearing
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about whether the government wilfully divide an order to return
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deportation flights to the US. There's a picture of James E. Bosberg,
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chief Judge of the U. S. District Court for the
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District of Columbia, who sharply questioned Drew Ensign, Deputy Assistant
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Attorney General on Friday. He is standing in front of
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seven pictures of former US District Court for the District
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of Columbia judges. This is by Sylvia Foster Froue and
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Justin Juvenal. A federal judge on Friday, expressed notes about
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the Trump administration's use of wartime power to deport alleged
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Venezuelan gang members, while also brilling a government attorney about
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whether officials had disregarded his order not to do so.
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James E. Boisberg, chief Justice for the U. S. District
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Court for the District of Columbia, acknowledged that the president
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has brought authority over foreign policy and deeps quotations, but
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he said the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies
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Act to abruptly send more than a hundred Venezuelans to
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a prison in Al Salvador without a hearing or assessment
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seemed problematic and concerning. I agree it is an unpreceded
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and expanded use of the Act, the judge said. At
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an afternoon hearing before Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign
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had a chance to address the court, Wesberg scolded him
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over the government's actions last weekend, when officials quietly invoked
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the Alien Enemies Act and launched the deportations after advocates
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for immigrants found a legal challenge. Boaz said of Trump's
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executive order, why was this proclamation is centrally signed in
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the dark. Then these people's rushed into planes. It seems
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to me the only reason to do that is if
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you know it's a problem and you want to get
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them out of the country. The judge accused Ensign of
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using intemperate and disrespectable language that I can't remember seeing
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from the United States in court filings earlier this week.
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He also questioned whether the attorney failed to appear for
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a hearing Monday because he realized he had knowingly violated
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Boase's Berg's auto about getting the flights back. Ensign, who
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appeared uncomfortable, replied that he missed the hearing because he
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was working on a brief in the case. The extraordinary
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back and forth occurred at Emotions hearing nearly a week
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after Biasberg blocked the Trump administration from invoking the Alien
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Enemies Act of seventeen ninety eight to deport alleged gang
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members without due process. The act has only been enacted
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three times before in the nation's history, always during wartime.
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President Donald Trump and his allies have called for Bosberg's
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impeachment over the ruling, prompting Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
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To issue a rare statement stressing that the appeals process,
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not removal from the bench, is the way to object
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to a legal decision. On Friday, Weisberg prodded Ensign for
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answers he has sought for days about how the government
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handled the flights, asking whether he understood the judge's order
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on Saturday to return flights in the United States if
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they contained people being removed under the Act. Weisberg told
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Ensign I made it very clear what you had to do.
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Did you not understand my statement in that hearing? I
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understood your statement, Ensign replied. Instant declined to say whether
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he had communicated to his understanding of Isisberg directly to
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the government agencies handling the deportation flights. I've seen attorney
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client privilege. During the first half of that hearing Saturday,
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Ensign told Weisberg he did not have details about any
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flights deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members that would be leaving
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the US. Weisberg then called a recess to allow INCID
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to find information about any such flights. By the time
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the hearing resumed, two flights carrying deportees had taken off,
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but Insign again told Weisberg he had no details about
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any flights. The Trump administration said Sunday that two hundred
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and sixty one migrants have been deported on three airplanes
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to a Mecca prison in El Salvador, with two of
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the planes leaving before Bosberg's order of barring sech removals.
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The third plane left after Bisberg issued his written order,
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but the government has said that plane transported migrants to
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port it under standard immigration laws, not the wartime Actsburg
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sounded incredulous on Friday as he questioned insinot the sequence
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of events. He said, your clients had you come argue this,
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but kept you in the dark about all of this.
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Insign reiterated he was not given information about plans. Grasberg
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has pressed government attorneys repeatedly this week to tell him
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what time the two planes carrying the migrants took off
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and when they landed, but so far the Justice Department
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has resisted providing those details, calling Glasberg's interest and unnecessary
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judicial fishing expedition. The judge has set deadlines next week
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for the government to provide him more information about the deportations,
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including whether the administration plans to invoke the State Secrets
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Act to keep some material from the court. In addition,
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an appeals Court panel has scheduled oral arguments Monday to
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hear the government's challenge to ask for its temporary restraining order.
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Family members of some of the deported have said that
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their relatives were not involved in the trend or Aguais Gang,
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that in some cases tattoos might have been misinterpretated as
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indicating affiliation with the group. Robert Sena and acting Regional
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Ice Field director in Harlingtons Harlinge in Texas acknowledged that
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many of those deportees under the Act do not have
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criminal records in the US, but he said that does
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not indicate they pose a limited threat. In comments to
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the media and the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said
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he was told the migrants went through a very strong
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betting process to determine they were gang members, and if
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they weren't criminals or gang members, we would want to
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certainly find out. Glasburg will have difficult choices to make
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if the government continues to float his instructions. He could
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find administration officials in contempt of court, but that's US
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step federal judges rarely take against the executive branch. A
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contempt finding would allow Brosberg to impose fines against administration
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officials to try to force their compliance with his orders.
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Westbird could even order officials jailed, but the federal judiciary
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relies on U S. Marshals to carry out such orders.
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Marshals are a part of the Justice Department in the
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executive branch, and legal experts say it's an open question
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whether Trump and his appointees would follow through on such
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an order. The attacks come after a number of setbacks
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in court that have put some of the president's most
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important initiatives on hold. Judges have temporarily blocked his ban
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on birthright citizenship, freeze on foreign aid, and moves to
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fire thousands of probitionary government workers, among other things. In all,
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opponents have filed more than one hundred and thirty lawsuits
22:53
against Trump's executive orders and other actions. Federal judges have
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issued at three dozen injunctions, while the administration has won
23:04
favorable ruling in little more than a dozen cases. The
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litigation remains in their early stages. Considerably more of Trump's
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actions could ultimately be approved at the appeals court level
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or by the Supreme Court, both of which have a
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significant number of conservative jurists appointed by Trump during his
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first term. On Friday, after Bosberg finished grilling Instant about
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his order from the previous weekend, he questioned both parties
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about the government's request to set his restaining order aside.
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At one point, ACLU attorney Lee Jerum, one of the
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lawyers who brought the lawsuit, told the judge that the
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government did return some people who were on the planes,
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women and people whom the Salvadorian prison could not accept
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because of their nationalities, said he would be filing more
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information on those cases to the court soon. The judge
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seemed incredulous as he asked government how it would ensure
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that anyone to put it under the Act was in
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fact a member of Trenduragua. How is this going to work?
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He said. Weisberg also raised the possibility of narrowing his
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temporary restraining order so it only requires the government to
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give individuals a chance to make a case in legal
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proceedings for why they do not fall under the Alien
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Enemies Act. The plaintiffs pushed back against the proposals, saying
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that it used a wartime power against civilians and would
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set a dangerous and troubling precedent. The Alien Enemies Act
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should not be used at all against a gang. It's
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very dangerous. Every nationality in the United States has some
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organized crime. Anybody can be termed alien enemy, Glance said
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in a news conference after the hearing. Wasburg did not
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issue an immediate ruling. As the hearing came to a close,
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he reminded the court that he was determined to uncover
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whether his order last Sunday was ignored I will get
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to the bottom of whether they violated my order, who
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ordered this, and what the consequences will be. Musk's China
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business ties complicate his US national security role. The world's
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richest man may be working for President Trump's America, but
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he makes billions of dollars playing nice with China. There's
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a picture of Musk and Shanghai Maya ying Yong during
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the groundbreaking ceremony for a Tesla factory in Shanghai, and
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they are underneath black umbrella and its obviously reigning or
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drizzling there by Kate Kadell. When news broke that a
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Friday Pentagon meeting with Elon Musk might include details of
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US war plans for China, the administration, including President Donald Trump,
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mobilized to deny it, underscoring the tech billionaire's precarious position
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dependent on the favor of both Trump and Beijing. US
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officials said before the meeting that it was anticipated Mosque
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would be read in on a number of classified topics,
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including threats posed by Beijing. News that the briefing was
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first reported by The New York Times. President Donald Trump
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and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were quick to deny the reports,
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with Trump dismissing them as fake news. Musk responded by
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calling the Time story pure propaganda and said he looked
27:06
forward to the prosecution of whoever leaked the information. But
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the official response underscored the extreme sensitivities surrounding Musk's role
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as head of the US DOGE Service and growing concerns
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over how his outsize influence in Washington may conflict with
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his long standing business interest in China. Trump said, speaking
27:33
about the Pentagon's plans for a potential conflict with China,
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Certainly you wouldn't show that to a businessman. Elon has
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businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that,
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he told reporters at the White House on Friday. Lawmakers
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and analysts warned that Beijing could exploit Musk's connections, particularly
27:57
as China ramps up preparations to take time by force
28:01
if necessary. It cuts both ways with Musk. On the
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one hand, he's already cleared into several sensitive programs given
28:11
the work of SpaceX and the importance of Starlink. On
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the other hand, he has significant business interests in China.
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He's advanced Chinese Communist Party talking points on multiple occasions
28:25
about Taiwan and the Ugurs that benefits Beijing, said Michael Sublink,
28:33
a senior fellow at Hudson Institute specializing in U S.
28:37
China relations. Musk car company Tesla has long benefited from
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Beijing's electric vehicle policies, building its largest and most productive
28:49
factory in Shanghai and receiving incentives to access the world's
28:53
largest automotive market. Tesla also needs Beijing's favor for key
28:59
regular Tory approvals, including permission to test and deploy its
29:03
autonomous driving technology in China, honed rruptly thirty seven percent
29:09
of tesseless global vehicle sales. Since becoming one of the
29:16
president's closest advisors, Musk has said little about China, focusing
29:21
his government efficiency campaign largely on domestic issues and agencies
29:26
across Washington. However, his business's global footprint, with both SpaceX
29:33
and Starling performing key functions for the Department of Defense,
29:38
suggests his influence could extend in some form to the
29:41
looming threat of a conflict with Russia with China in
29:45
the Indo Pacific. Musco has previously used on a number
29:51
of China related national security issues, including affocating for Taiwan
29:57
to be reintegrated with mainland China under an arrangement similar
30:01
to Hong Kong's, a position that garnered applause from China's
30:05
policy establishment but runs canada to longstanding US policy opposing
30:11
any unilateral changes from the current status quo. Ryan hess,
30:19
a China and Taiwan expert at the Brooking Institution, said,
30:25
rightly or not, Chinese officials and scholars I have met
30:29
with believed Musk supports improving US China relations, included by
30:35
relieving pressure on China. They view Musk as less rigid
30:39
and more flexible in his thinking on China than much
30:43
of America's foreign policy establishment. The Tesla CEO previously described
30:51
himself as Kanan pro China in a twenty twenty three
30:57
conversation with US lawmakers on Twitter. I have some vested
31:03
interests in China, but honestly, I think China is underrated,
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and I think the people of China are really awesome
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and there's a lot of positive energy there, he said
31:13
at the time. But Musk's public overtures to Chinese officials
31:18
have gone beyond those typically get offered by other US technologies.
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CEOs fearing into explicitly political territory. Follow when you made
31:28
twenty twenty three meeting within Foreign Minister Quai Gang, the
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Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement that said Musk and
31:39
Tesla opposed US and Chinese economic decoupling. Last April, just
31:47
months before he announced his full endorsement of Trump, Musk
31:52
traveled to China for a rare public meeting with Premier
31:55
Le Coined, the country's third highest ranking official, part of
32:00
a broader EPITUU regulators as Tesla looks to gain approval
32:04
for its full self driving technology to be used on
32:08
Chinese roads. The company also sealed a deal with tech
32:13
giant Vaidu, the country's largest mapping provider. China has had
32:20
its own sensitivities around Musks business operations. In twenty twenty one,
32:25
government employees in China were told not to drive their
32:29
Teslas to work near sensitive infrastructure because of concerns that
32:33
the company's sophisticated cameras and technology could be monitored by
32:38
US fire agencies. Around the time of the lead meeting, however,
32:43
the government backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that
32:48
vehicles made it the Shanghai Gigafactory were officially compliant with
32:55
China's strict data security rules, and that their cars were
32:58
permitted to park in operate near government and military facilities.
33:05
Musk Growing role in the US government comes as his
33:08
company is looking to goose sales of its car in China,
33:11
where they are once enviable market share is steadily eroding.
33:16
The same government policies that fueled Tesla's rapid rise have
33:20
also empowered a wave of cheaper domestic rivals, most notably
33:25
DyB excuse me BYD, that have scourged in searched in
33:32
popularity by swiftly tailoring products to local taste and undercutting
33:36
Tesla on price in a slowing economy, Tesla sold around
33:41
sixty thousand cars in China in the first two months
33:44
of this year, down thirteen point six percent from a
33:48
year earlier. Last month, Tesla opened a new two hundred
33:53
million dollar megapac battery plant in Shanghai, expanding the footprint
33:58
of its already massive operation. Lawmakers on both sides of
34:03
the out have voiced concerns that Beijing could use its
34:06
sway of a Musk's business's interest to influence US government policy.
34:13
To the question of elon musk I do believe the
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CCP will try to leverage any opportunity, said Representative John Molinar,
34:23
Republican of Michigan, the chair of the Hosoelect Committee on China,
34:27
at a February event hosted by the Brookings Institution, a
34:31
think tank in Washington. Some lawmakers have also voiced concerns
34:37
that the Chinese government could use Musk's proximity to the
34:40
president to circumvent the cadre of longtime China Hawks now
34:45
and keep foreign policy roles in the Plumb administration, including
34:49
Secretary of State Mark Or Rubio, who was borrowed from
34:53
entering China in twenty twenty over his support for ethnic Ugars.
35:00
They absolutely see Musk as an asset to them in
35:04
any kind of negotiations, a way to bypass Rubio, a
35:08
way to bypass National Security Advisor Mike Walls, a way
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to bypass those whom they see to be less friendly
35:18
to them on their issues, said Representative Braja Krishna Morothy, Illinois,
35:26
the ranking Democrat on the China Select Committee, at the
35:29
Brookings event. Lawmakers on the Hawkish Select Committee clashed with
35:35
Tesla in twenty twenty two over its decision to open
35:38
a showroom in Xingxiang, despite a US government determination that
35:45
Beijing had committed crimes against humanity in its crackdown on
35:50
the ethnic Ugur population. While the showroom wasn't a major
35:55
expansion of Tesla's business in China, it marked a significance
36:00
symbolic win for Beijing, which has been pushing back against
36:04
US sanctions on the region. It's unclear whether Musk has
36:08
been tapped to play a role in US China diplomatic negotiations.
36:13
In January, Chinese Vice President Han Zing met with Musk
36:18
and other business leaders in Washington at an event where
36:22
he said he welcomed Tesla and other US firms to
36:28
contribute to the growth of US China economic and trade relations.
36:35
Analysts say Musk's role in shaping China policy could come
36:39
into sharper focus in the coming months as the administration
36:44
moves beyond its recent tariff hikes, which raise duties on
36:48
some Chinese products to forty five percent, and enters a
36:53
new phase of negotiations. The next point on the horizon
36:58
to watchful will be where the Musk becomes involved in
37:01
preparations for Trump's expected upcoming meeting with Chinese President Jing
37:08
Xing g Ping, and while the Musk personally participates in
37:12
that leader level meeting, said the Brookings Institutions has on
37:18
Taiwan the most critical national security flashpoint between China and
37:23
the United States. Musk has joined sharp criticism from Taiwanese
37:28
officials for suggesting that the island should be reintegrated into
37:32
China as a special administrative zone. In comments in an
37:37
interview with The Financial Times in twenty twenty two, he
37:40
compared it to the framework that was used in Hong Kong,
37:44
where it ultimately led to the erosion of the city's
37:47
judicial and legal independence. These comments have made him a
37:52
target of ire in Taipei. Listen up. Taiwan is not
37:59
part of China and certainly not for sale, said then
38:05
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, reacting to comments by Musk. Taiwan
38:11
has had a rocky relationship with the world's richest man.
38:15
Last year, Reuters reported that space X had asked its
38:19
Taiwanese suppliers to shift manufacturing off the island, which remains
38:24
vulnerable to a potential attack from Beijing. Earlier discussions for
38:29
space X provide satellite services to Towan fell through, and
38:34
the island has since opted to develop its own network.
38:39
China's military has its own planes to launch thirteen thousand
38:43
satellites into low Earth orbit in the coming years, with
38:47
the explicit goal of countering Musk Starlink, a project that
38:51
has gone into overdrives since Chinese military planners saw the
38:56
critical role of the Internet beaming satellite constellation deployed in Ukraine.
39:03
In Washington on Monday, heg Seth gave no indication of
39:08
having any reservations about Musk's access to the Pentagon. He
39:14
is a patriot and alokford to continuing our work together.
39:18
We are ensuring our military continues to be the greatest
39:22
fighting force the world has ever known, said Hegseth of
39:27
Musk in a post on X I will go back
39:31
to the front page article of Brazil's flight of fancy
39:36
claiming that they beat the Right Brothers to heavier than
39:40
air flights by going to an article USDA Cancil's five
39:46
hundred million dollars in food deliveries leaving food banks scrambling.
39:53
The Trump's administration's latest mood, which follows one billion dollars
39:58
in cuts to food as programs, puts more pressure on
40:02
groups trying to feed hungry Americans. And there's a picture
40:07
of a Boston food bank volunteer lowering bands with food
40:11
for distribution, and you see a box and is resting
40:18
on a ladder on a bag of potatoes being loaded
40:22
into the back of a truck by Annie Gowan and
40:27
Patrick's Vittik. Food banks across the country, already facing huge
40:34
cuts to locally grown food assistance, learned this week that
40:38
the US Department of Agriculture is canceling five hundred million
40:42
dollars in expected food deliveries, further disrupting help at a
40:46
time when need continues to rise. Vince Hall, chief government
40:52
relations officer at Feeding America, the country's largest hunger relief organization,
40:58
said some local food banks and food pantries were told
41:02
that USDA deliveries of commodities such as cheese and meat
41:07
are being canceled, at least temporarily. Many others were not
41:12
notified by federal officials that their deliveries were not coming,
41:15
he said. Paul characterized the USDA's decision as a pause
41:21
to review existing programs, and said his organization is hoping
41:25
the administration will resume purchases and deliveries with minimum disruption
41:31
On the flow of food. Groups working in rural areas,
41:35
which rely more on government food than leaning, would be
41:38
especially hard hit by a lack of commodities, he said.
41:43
With inflation rising and fundraising down from a pandemic high,
41:48
food banks are at a moment of extraordinary demand that
41:52
is taxing food banks to the breaking point. Any interruption
41:57
of food sources will mean serious, kind consequences to our
42:01
neighbors facing hunger, Paul said Thursday. The USA USDA did
42:08
not respond to a request for comment. One of every
42:12
six Americans sought food from food banks in twenty twenty three,
42:16
according to a Feeding America study. That was a thirty
42:20
eight percent increase from twenty twenty one. Earlier. This month,
42:26
the Trump administration announced one billion in cuts to food
42:30
assistance programs that helped schools and food banks buy fresh
42:34
food from local farmers, part of the funding announced last
42:38
fall by the Magnet administration. When it extended both programs,
42:43
agency officials dismissed them as COVID era assistance that was
42:49
no longer necessary. Emily Shearer, the food acquisition program manager
42:55
for Food Bank of Iowa, said the latest news puts
43:00
in jeopardy sixteen truckloads of food that her organization expected
43:05
to receive from April through July, a shortfall of three
43:09
hundred and eighty seven thousand pounds of food worth seven
43:14
hundred and ninety eight thousand dollars. That's in addition to
43:19
the food it no longer will be able to purchase
43:21
from local farmers after this month because of the administration's
43:26
earlier action. It's also important to note not just the
43:32
potential for counciled loads, but the types of food we
43:35
would miss out on, receiving multiple loads of meat, cheese,
43:40
and fresh milk, some of the most expensive items to procure,
43:45
she said Thursday. The only way to make up that
43:48
deficit is for the food banks to purchase those items,
43:51
which would be an added expense in an already record year.
43:59
In her eight years at the food bank, Shira said,
44:02
I do not ever remember being so uncertain about how
44:06
we will meet the need. At the Capital Area Food
44:11
Bank in d C, communications director Hilary Salmon said staffers
44:16
have not yet received formal notice of the cancelations. Last week, however,
44:21
they began to see the status of existing orders changed
44:24
from approved to returned, which in the past has signaled
44:30
a cancelation twenty eight truckloads of food, or about six
44:35
hundred and seventy thousand meals worth of chicken eggs and
44:39
produced do by the end of June have been affected
44:43
so far, Salmon said. On Friday, Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rawins,
44:50
who previously led a conservative think tank in Texas, As,
44:54
toted on social media her relationship with the team from
44:58
billionaire Elon Musk's stage service. She posed for photos with
45:03
Doege staffers and wrongly claimed that USDA had cut a
45:07
six hundred thousand dollars grant to a Louisiana school to
45:11
study menstrual cycles and transgender men. The grant actually was
45:18
for researching the health risks of using synthetic materials in
45:22
menstrual products. As last week about ending programs for locally
45:28
sourced food, Rawlins told Fox News, if we are making mistakes,
45:34
we will own those mistakes and we will reconfigure. But
45:38
right now, from what we are viewing, that program was
45:41
non essential, that it was a new program, that it
45:44
was an effort by the left to continue spending taxpayer
45:48
dollars that were not necessary. The move comes as Republican
45:53
lawmakers in the House consider a two hundred and thirty
45:56
billion dollar reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program SNAP,
46:03
formerly known as food stamps, a cut that advocates have
46:08
that advocates have characterized as drastic and unprecedented. Representative Henry Sulla,
46:15
Democrat of Texas, told a virtual town hall meeting Thursday
46:19
that he is worried federal assistance to food banks could
46:23
be scaled back even further. We've got to make sure
46:28
that we restore some of those cuts, because I've talked
46:31
to some of the food banks and I'm concerned that
46:33
some of those cuts will continue or might be magnified,
46:37
he said. The seven swing states that won Donald Trump
46:42
the twenty twenty four presidential election are losing nearly one
46:46
hundred and seventy eight million dollars in local food that
46:49
would have gone on school children's plates, according to an
46:53
analysis by The Washington Post. Kyle Wade, the president and
47:00
chief executive of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, said it
47:04
is trying to determine the impact of the USDA's recent
47:08
cancelations of a significant number of food orders and ship
47:13
months there. We don't know the totality of what that
47:17
means yet, but it's a significant amount of food that
47:21
we will for sure we'll need in three, four or
47:24
five months from now to meet the demand in our community,
47:29
he said. Wade said his organization is already barely keeping
47:35
up with demand, given the number of people seeking aid
47:38
from its network in Northern Georgia, a figure that increased
47:42
sixty percent over the last three years. That increase, he added,
47:46
was primarily due to inflation. A new administration in Washington
47:52
typically reviews programs and may make changes, Wade acknowledged, but
47:58
he hopes the Trump administration and will clarify the situation
48:01
soon so food banks will have access to a comparable
48:06
amount of food resources to support the community. We don't
48:11
have any idea right now and don't know what to
48:14
plan for, Wade said. Pamela Irvine, the president and chief
48:21
executive of Feeding Southwest Virginia, expressed similar uncertainty about what
48:28
comes next. She said her food bank does not receive
48:32
enough donated food or have enough money to buy its
48:35
own food to make up for losing the federal supply.
48:41
With those commodities and a strong farm bill, we wouldn't
48:46
have enough food to feed the food insecure neighbors in
48:50
our twenty six counties. Irvine said, and now I turned
48:55
to the Wright brothers invented the airplane? Right? Not if
49:00
you're in Brazil. While the Right Brothers are widely recognized
49:05
as the Bothers of flight, Brazilians believe the true inventor
49:09
of the airplane was one of their own and a
49:13
French postcard circer in nineteen o nine showing Brazilian aviator
49:19
pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont in his monoplane Lie down, Moiselle.
49:26
This is by Terence McCoy at a Petropolis, Brazil. Who
49:30
invented the airplane? Questions don't get much simpler, But in
49:35
Brazil and the United States, the answer you'll get isn't
49:39
likely to be the same. In nineteen oh three, US
49:42
school children are taught the Right Brothers piloted their Right
49:47
flyer into the air in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and
49:51
soared into the history books. Brazilians hear a different story
49:56
that the true inventor of the airplane was Alberto Santo Dumont,
50:01
commonly described here as the Fava of aviation for more
50:07
than a century, ever since he steered his fourteen dash
50:11
this into the Paris sky in nineteen o six, the
50:15
country has been trying indefigably to give their main his
50:20
man his due. Regardless of the academic consensus, Santos Dumont's
50:25
mustachioed visage has graced Brazilian currency. One of Rio de
50:31
Janeira's airports is named after him. A replica of his airplane,
50:36
piloted by Santos Dumont look alike, swooped through the opening
50:40
ceremonies of the twenty sixteen Rio Olympics. Now Santos Dumont
50:47
truthers of truthers have found a new and powerful champion.
50:51
Brazilian President Louis in Nacio Lua da Silva. In his
50:57
third presidential term. Amid a slew of farm big a
51:00
domestic crisis, Lula has repeatedly found time to trumpet Santos
51:05
Dumont and even take a few swipes at the right brothers.
51:09
I can't even pronounce their name, he scoffed. In July
51:13
and comments to The Washington Post, the Brazilian president went further,
51:18
delving into the mausha of early twentieth century aerospace engineering
51:23
and mourning what he described as the wrongful denia of
51:27
Brazilian valor. Everyone knows that Santos Dumont was the first
51:32
to make something heavier than airfly in an autonomous way
51:36
without any assistance. But the Americans have the movie industry
51:42
and were able to promote the right brothers. Lula said,
51:47
it's essential to restore the aviation industry and duly attribute
51:52
Brazil's role. A nation needs to have values, Lula added.
51:58
While in many ways harmless or fluffle, the dispute raises
52:03
important questions about nationalism, the stories countries tell about themselves,
52:08
and the limits of any universal truth. In other words,
52:12
both sides are dug in. This is a very Brazilian thing,
52:16
said Peter Jakob, an Emertus, curator at the Smithsonian National
52:21
Air and Space Museum. And in some ways it's sad.
52:27
This is a typical American thing, said Enrique Lynz Debarros,
52:32
a Brazilian physicist who has written three books on Sautos Dumont.
52:37
If it's not them, it can't be anyone. So the
52:41
question again, who invented the airplane? And there's a picture
52:46
of a right gliding from Big Killed, Double Hill and
52:49
Kitty Hawk. On October the twenty seventh and nineteen oh three,
52:54
when Wilba and auval each made two glides, deciding what
53:00
says a flight. In the spring of nineteen hundred, ruble
53:04
Wrights set out to find a windy location to test
53:07
his aviation theories. I'm afflicted with the belief that flight
53:12
is possible to man, he wrote a colleague, soliciting suggestions
53:16
for a suitable locality where I could depend on wins
53:21
to test his flying machine. His search ultimately led him
53:26
to Kitty Hawk on the North Carolina Coast on its
53:29
sand dunes. Three and a half years later, in wins
53:32
that reached twenty seven miles per hour, the right flyer
53:36
one rolled down a sixty foot rail and lifted off,
53:40
carrying his brother Albo one hundred and twenty feet. Three
53:43
more flights remained that same day. The found one lasted
53:47
nearly a full minute and traveling eight hundred and fifty
53:50
two feet. The airplane has been invented, is how The
53:55
National Air and Space Museum summarizes the moment so fast
54:00
Brazilian's counter how can the world be sure that this
54:04
flight was legitimate, that the flyer would have lifted off
54:07
without a boost from another nature That was a region
54:11
that was rich in wind, said Rodrigo muro Vio Visoni,
54:17
a historian of Brazilian aviation. But the brothers weren't done.
54:22
The next year, the Rights Flyer too pushed into the
54:25
air in a field in Dayton, Ohio, and the year
54:28
after that came the Flyer three. It achieved a flight
54:31
that lasted for nearly forty minutes and twenty four point
54:34
two miles, encouraging enough for the Rights to propose the
54:38
sale of the design to the US government. Because the
54:42
Flyer two struggled to reach the air with eight Kitty
54:45
Hawk's strong gust, and because the Ohio prairie offered less
54:49
open space for a runway, the brothers used a catapult
54:53
when testing their next generation flying machines so they could
54:57
quickly reach the velocity needed to chief liftoff, though a
55:02
few brief rapidly flights, write historian's note, were apparently achieved
55:08
by the Flyer two without the counterapult. To Brazilians, the
55:12
catapults should be disqualified. They didn't take off on their own.
55:18
They needed help, said Marcio bearing Crdoso, the former director
55:23
of the Brazil's National Aerospace Museum seconds LULA. The help
55:29
of equipment and tracks presented with these claims. Jakob has
55:35
written and edited three books on the Right Brothers, could
55:38
barely contain his exasperation. Brazil's argument, he said, is so
55:44
easily deconstructed it's not even really an argument. He said
55:48
it was preposterous to claim that the Right Brothers' flights
55:52
didn't count because of a catapult. Maybe jets, he noted,
55:56
still use a catapult system when lifting off shomp short
56:00
runways on aircraft carriers, and no one says they're not
56:04
real planes more. But he said the Flyer three sustained
56:09
itself in the air for nearly forty minutes. It's just
56:13
patently ridiculous on its surface. Jacob said, they're just trying
56:17
to get anything the Wright brothers did before nineteen o six.
56:22
That was the year Santos Dumont stepped out on to
56:25
a field in Paris for a crucial test. The scion
56:28
of a Brazilian coffee magnet, had relocated to Europe, where
56:32
he was famed for his debonair dress, fine dining, habits,
56:36
and aviation engineering. First came his affair with a ballooning
56:40
and then the construction of his single passenger airplane, the
56:44
fourteen dashbiss On that day in November, before gathering of
56:49
judges and reporters, Santos Dumont climbed a Bordia's airplane and
56:53
sped down the field as a head wind boredown. According
56:57
to historian Lin's Debarros, the plane lifted off, traveling seven
57:02
hundred and twenty two feet. It took off by itself,
57:06
Lula said, without depending on external devices at first, Since
57:13
the Right brothers had been toiling in relative obscurity, French
57:16
aviators heralded Santos Dumont's flight as the world's fast first. Now,
57:23
much to Brazil's distress, the French and most of the
57:26
world looked differently upon that day. There is no doubt
57:30
that the Right brothers flew before Santos Dumont, said Marion Quickerly,
57:37
the aircraft collections manager at France's Air and Space Museum.
57:44
Will this dispute bring us anywhere? On a recent overcast
57:48
day in the mountain town of Metropolis Petropolis, about forty
57:54
miles northeast Rio, a tall man regal bearing stepped up
57:58
to the house Santo's Dumont built atop a steep granite
58:02
slope as the aviator's closest living relative Alberto Dodgsworth Wanderley
58:08
has spent much of his life steeped in the debate
58:11
over who invented the airplane. He believes to his core
58:15
that Santos Dumont deserves the credit, and has spent decades
58:19
advocating that position, But now, at age eighty one, with
58:23
his wife Phil, he no longer thinks to argue argument
58:27
matters much at all. What's the importance, he wondered, Will
58:31
this is dispute bring us anywhere? He walked through Santos
58:38
Dumont's old home, now a museum. The AB eight has
58:41
spent as finally as there, horrified over the use of
58:44
airplanes in war, before taking his own life in nineteen thirty.
58:53
In there, it is now an ideological problem, Dodgsworth Wanderley said,
58:58
pick your side and you'll find the arguments you need
59:02
to stay there. This concludes the reading of The Washington
59:06
Post for Today, March the twenty second of twenty twenty five.
59:11
Stay tuned for programming on Radio I Bye