Transcript

7.21.25 · 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, July twenty First, as
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a reminder, RADIOI is a reading service intended for people
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who are blind to have other disabilities that make it
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difficult to read printed material. Your reader for today is
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Rod Brotherton, and as you know on Monday by listener request,
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we begin by reading Paul Prather's weekly column from the
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Lexington Herald Leader. This week's article is entitled my friend
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Gary shows what it looks like when your whole life
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becomes a prayer. My buddy Gary is retired now, but
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for a number of years he ran a drive through
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coffee kiosk in the town where I live. He hails
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from California by the way of Oregon, and he's just
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cut from a different cloth than a lot of us here.
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I think of his as a West Coast state of mind.
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He's not what I'd call an old hippie exactly, but
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he's definitely a free spirit and traveler. He's had adventures,
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a few of which might not be suitable for a
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religion column in a family newspaper. About thirty years ago,
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he his wife Joan, and their two younger sons, and
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Gary's mom, Mary, moved across the country to Kentucky to
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help look after Joan's aging parents. Joan and the boys
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came first, then Gary and his mother followed. Shortly after
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pulling the kiosk with a truck for several thousand miles
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between Oregon and the Bluegrass, Gary and Mary listened to
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a series of my sermons about God's boundless loving grace
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which Joan had sent them. I found an awesome church,
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and we're never leaving. Joan had notified Gary as a
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sort of advertisement. By the time their truck finally washed
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up on the shores of Montgomery County, Gary had been remade.
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He says. He and his family indeed joined the church
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where I'm pastor, and ever since when, Gary has been
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what used to be called a sold out Christian, a
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Christian of the best sort, jolly, kindly, open hearted, and animated.
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A few years after Gary and his wife arrived, when
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my first wife was dying and I was taking care
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of her and we were in the hardest part of
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our life together, I used to visit Gary's coffee shop,
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sometimes two or three times a day. For one thing.
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I'm a coffee connoisseur or at least an addict, and
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Gary served the best coffee I had ever had. For another,
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it helped me to see for five or ten minutes
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every visit was like a mind reset from my gloom
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and grief to his unmitigated faith and joy. In that
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little kiosk where Gary worked, he was hanging out with
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Jesus Christ all day, every day. Don't ask me to
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explain it, but when I'd pull up to the drive
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through window, Gary and Jesus always seemed to be having
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the best time ever, happily slinging the lattes to desperate
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pilgrims like me, sharing a laugh over something weird they'd
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seen on the busy street that day by the coffee shop.
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Guess what the Lord just told me? Gary might say.
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As we were greeting. Then he'd launched into a story about, say,
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some poor lady from Ohio or West Virginia or Tim
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Buck two who happened by not just five minutes before.
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Maybe she was crying when she pulled up, and Gary
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had asked if she was okay, and she said no,
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that she'd just found out her teenage son got busted
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for selling pot that quit Jesus whispered in Gary's ear
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that he should tell the lady her kid was gonna
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be fine, and God loved her so much. And by
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the way, the smoothie was on the house, and the
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lady drove away, drying her eyes and smiling. I admit
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I never actually saw Jesus in Gary's coffee shop, but
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Gary saw him, or felt his presence or heard his
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quiet voice pretty much constantly, and I saw an image
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of Jesus refracted through Gary. Hey, I talked to him
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like I talked to you. Gary would say, we talk
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about everything you know all day long. Today he's still
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at it. He and Jesus built and repair furniture in
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a workshop behind Gary's house, for instance. They even commune
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on the golf course. He's right there. Gary told me
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the other day. I don't expect an answer, but I
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get one. There are many forms a prayer, congregational prayers,
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praying if the psalms, breath, prayers, journaling prayers, centering prayers.
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There are books on how to pray, and there are
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prayer workshops, prayer retreats. All of these have a place,
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and each can work its own wonders. But when I
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think of Gary, I think of my favorite type of prayer,
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the kind that occurs when the Lord becomes so real
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and present in your life. It's hard to tell where
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God leaves off and you begin. The two of you
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are one. He's in your heart, in your mind, and
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on your tongue. Every act becomes holy then, from mixing
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a machiato to planning daylily, to serving communion, to laying
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hands on the sick to taking the dog to the vet,
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everything shimmers with divine presence. Everything has eternal purpose, the
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spirit inside you. Sometimes it's actually better not to become
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obsessed with the pairing of out of the proper doctrines
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and the calibrating of the theology of all of this
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to a fairly well, sometimes it's better to go with
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the flow, and Gary has always done that. Trust that
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God is as near as the air in your lungs
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as the belongings in your soul. Believe God is right
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there all the time, listening to you, talking to you,
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seeing the world through your eyes and getting you to
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glimpse this world through his And as you know. Paul
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Prather is pastor of the Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling.
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You can email him at PRTPD at yahoo dot com.
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Now let's move on to the news of the Washington
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Post for today and the first story Trump officials accused
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of defining one in three three judges who ruled against him.
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President Trump and his appointees have been accused of flouting
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courts in a third of the more than one hundred
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and sixty lawsuits against the administration in which a judge
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has issued a substantive ruling. A Washington Post analyst has
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found suggesting widespread non compliance with America's legal system. Plaintiffs
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say Justice Department lawyers and their agencies they represent are
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snubbing rulings, providing false information, failing to turn over evidence,
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quietly working around court orders, and inventing pretexts to carry
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out actions that have been blocked. Judges appointed by presidents
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of both parties have often agreed no have taken punitive
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action to try to force compliance, however, allowing the administrations
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to find some orders to go on for weeks or
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even months in some instances. Our outside legal analysts say
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courts typically are slow to begin contempt proceedings for non compliance,
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especially while their rulings are under repeal. Judges also are
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likely to be concerned. Analysts say that the US Marshal Service,
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whose director is appointed by the President, might not serve
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subpoenas or take recalcitrant government officials into custody if ordered
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to do so by the courts. The allegations against the
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administration are crystallized, and a whistleblower complaint filed to Congress
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late last month that accused Justice officials of ignoring court
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orders in immigration cases, presenting legal arguments with no basis
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in the law, and mess representing facts. Supreme Court Justice
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Sonya sukt Mayor also chided the administration, writing that Trump
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officials had openly flouted a judge's order not to deport
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migrants to a country where they did not have citizenship.
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The Post examined three hundred and thirty seven lawsuits filed
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against the administration since Trump returned to the White House
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and began a rapid fire effort to reshape government programs
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and policy. As of mid July, courts had ruled against
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the administration in one hundred and sixty five of the lawsuits.
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The Posts found that the administrations accused of defying or
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frustrating court oversight in fifty seven of those cases. Almost
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thirty five percent. Legal experts said the pattern of conduct
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is unprecedented for any presidential administration and threatens to undermine
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the judiciary's role as a check on the executive branch,
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asserting vast powers that test the boundaries of the law
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and constitution. Immigration cases have emerged as the biggest flash point,
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but the administration has also been repeatedly accused of failing
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to comply in lawsuits involving cuts to federal funding and
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the workforce. Trump officials denied defying court orders, even as
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they accuse those who have issued them as judicial tyranny.
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When the Supreme Court in June restricted the circumstances under
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which presidential policies could be halted nationwide while they are
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challenged in court, Trump hailed the ruling as halting a
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colossal abuse of power. We've seen a handful of radical
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left judges try to overrule the rightful powers of the president,
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Trump said, falsely portraying the judges who have ruled against
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him as being solely democrats. Retired federal judge and former
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Watergate special prosecutor Paul Michael compared the situation to the
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summer of nineteen seventy one when the Supreme Court ordered
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President Nixon to turn over Oval office recordings as part
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of the Watergate investigation. Nixon initially refused, prompting fears of
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a constitutional crisis, but he ultimately complied. The current challenge
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is even bigger and more complicated because it involves hundreds
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of actions, not one subpoena for a set of tapes.
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Michael said, we're in new territory. Questions about whether the
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administration is defying judges have bubbled since early in Trump's
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second term, when the Supreme Court said Trump must allow
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millions and already allocated foreign aid to flow. The questions
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intensified in several immigration cases, including high profile showdowns over
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the wrongful deportation of an undocumented immigrant who came to
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the United States as a teenager and was raising a
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family in Maryland. The Supreme Court ordered the government to
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facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return after officials admitted deporting him
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to a notorious prison in his native l Salvador, despite
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a court order forbidding his removal to that country. Abrego
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remained there for almost two months, with the administration saying
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there was little it could do because he was under
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control of a foreign power. In June, he was brought
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back to the United States in federal custody after prosecutors
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secured a grand jury indictment against him for human smuggling,
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based in large part on the testimony of a three
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time felon who got leniency in exchange for cooperation, and
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recent filings in the case revealed that L. Salvador told
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the United Nations that the US retained control over prisoners
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sent there. Simon Sandoval Mosenberg, one of Albrego's lawyers, said
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the events proved the administration was playing games with the court.
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All along Isis Hook, the University of Chicago law professor,
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said the case is the sharpest example of a pattern
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that's observed across many of the cases that we've seen
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being filed against the Trump administration, in which orders that
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come from lower courts are either being slow walked or
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not being complied with in good faith. In another legal clash,
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Chief US District Judge James E. Boasburg found Trump officials
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engaged in wilful disregard of his order to turn around
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deportation flights to L. Salvador in mid March after he
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issued a temporary restraining order against removing migrants under the
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Alien Enemies Act, which in the past had been used
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only in wartime. A whistleblower complaint filed by fired Justice
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Department attorney Erez Ruvini alleges that the principal Associate Deputy
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Attorney General, Emil Bouve told staffers before the flights that
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a judge might try to block them and that it
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might be necessary to tele court f U and ignore
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the order. Beouve, who has been since been nominated by
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Trump for an appellate judgeship and his awaiting Senate confirmation,
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denies the allegations. In may U s District, Judge Stephanie Gallagher,
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a Trump appointee, opined that the government had utterly disregarded
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her order to facilitate the return of a Venezuelan man
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was also wrongfully deported to El Salvador. Like Boasburg was
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appointed by Obama, she is exploring contempt proceedings. Another federal
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judge found Trump officials violated his court order by attempting
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to send deportes to South Sudan without due process. In
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a fourth case, authorities deported a man shortly after an
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appeals court ruled he should remain in the US while
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his immigration case played out. Trump officials said the removal
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was an error, but you have yet but have yet
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to return him. One of the most glaring examples of
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non compliance involves a program to provide legal representation to
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miners who arrived at the border alone, often fearing for
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their safety, after fleeing countries racked by gang violence. In April,
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U S District Judge Araceli Martinez o'gluen, a Biden appointee,
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ordered the Trump administration to fund the program. The government
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delayed almost four weeks and moved to council a contract
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the judge had ordered restarted. While the money was held up,
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a seventeen year old was sent back to Honduras before
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he could meet with a lawyer. Attorneys told the court
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that the team probably could have won a reprieve with
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a simple legal filing. Alvaro Huerta, an attorney representing the
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plaintiffs in a suit over the funding cuts, said other
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miners might have suffered the same fate had they been
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complying with the temporary restraining order. This child would have
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been represented, Huerta said. Another problematic case involves the consumer
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financial Protection Bureau, an agency created after the twenty oh
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eight financial crisis to police unfair, abusive, or deceptive practices
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by financial institutions. A judge halted the administration's plan to
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fire almost all CFPB employees, ruling the effort was unlawful.
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An appeals court said the workers could be let go
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only if the bureau performed and individualized or particularized assessment
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for businesses. Days later, the Trump administration reported that it
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had carried out a particularized assessment of more than fourteen
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hundred employees and began an even bigger round of layoffs.
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CFPB employees said in court filings that the process was
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a sham directed by Elon Musk's US Doge Service. Employees
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said counsel for the White House Office of Management and
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Budget told them to brush off the courts required particularized
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assessment and simply meet the layoff quota. All that mattered
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was the numbers, said one declaration submitted to US District
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Judge Amy Berman Jackson and Obama appointee Jackson halted the
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new firings, accusing the Trump administration of dressing its cuts
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in new clubs. David Super, a Georgetown law professor said
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the government has used the same legal maneuver in a
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number of cases. They put out a directive that gets challenged.
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Super said, then they do the same thing that the
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directives set out to do, but says it's on some
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other legal basis. He pointed to January, when omb issued
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a memo freezing all federal grants and loans. Affected groups
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want an injunction, but the White House quickly announced it
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was rescinding the memo but keeping the freeze in place.
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Justice Department attorneys argue in legal filings that the government's
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actions rendered the injunction moot, but the judge said it
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appeared it had been done simply to defeat the jurisdiction
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of the courts. In another case, a judge blocked the
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administration from ending federal funds for programs that promote gender ideology,
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or the idea that someone might identify with the gender
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other than their birth sex. While the effort was challenged
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in court, the National Institutes of Health nevertheless slashed a
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grant for a doctor at Seattle Children's Hospital who was
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developing a health education tool for transgender youth. The plaintiffs
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complained it was a violation of the court order, but
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the NIH said the grant was being cut under a
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different authority. Whistleblowers came forward with documents showing that the
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administration had apparently carried out the cuts under the executive
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order that was at the center of the court case.
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US District Judge Lauren King, a Biden appointee, said the
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documents have raised the substantial questions about whether the government
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violated her preliminary injunction and ordered officials to produce documents.
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The government eventually reinstated the grant. In a different case,
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h U S District Judge Anna Raise, a Biden appointee,
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was unsparing in her decision to place a hold on
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the Trump administration's ban on transgender people serving in the military,
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saying the order was soaked inanimous. Then the government issued
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a new policy targeting troops who have symptoms of gender dysphoria,
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the term for people who feel a mismatch between their
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gender identity and birth sex, and asked Rays to dissolve
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her order. Raise was stunned. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete
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Hegsith had made repeated public statements describing the policy as
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a ban on transgender troops, and heg sith had recently
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posted on x Pentagon says transgendered troops are disqualified from
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service without an exception. I am not going to abide
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by government officials saying one thing to the public what
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they really mean to the public, and coming here in
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court and telling me something different, like I'm an idiot.
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The judge told the government's lawyers. The court is not
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going to be gas lit. Courts have traditionally assumed public
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officials and Justice Department in particular, are acting honestly, lawfully,
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and in good faith. Since Trump returned to the lighthouse, however,
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judges have increasingly questioned whether government lawyers are meeting that standard.
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The pattern of stuff we have I haven't seen before,
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said Andrew C. McCarthy, a columnist for the conservative National
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Review and former federal prosecutor. The rules of the road
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are supposed to be you can tell a judge I
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can't answer that for constitutional reasons, or you can tell
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the judge the truth. While many judges have concluded that
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the Trump administration has defied court orders, only Boasburg has
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actively moved towards sanctioning the administration for its conduct, and
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he did so only after saying that he had given
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the government ample opportunity to address its failure and return
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the deportation flights to l Salvador. The contempt proceedings he
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began were paused by an appeals court panel without explanation
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three months ago. The two judges who voted for the
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administration's stay were Trump appointees. A contempt filing would allow
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the judge to impose fines, jail time, or additional sanctions
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on officials to compel compliance. In three other cases, judges
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have denied motions to hold Trump officials in contempt, but
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reiterated that the government must comply with the decision, or
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ordered the administration to turn over documents to determine whether
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it had violated a ruling. Judges are considering contempt proceedings
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on other cases as well. Most lawsuits against the administration
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have been filed in federal court districts with a heavy
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concentration of judges appointed by Democratic presidents. The vast majority
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of judges who have found that the administration defied court
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orders were appointed by Democrats, but judges selected by presidents Reagan,
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Bush and have also found that officials failed to comply
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with orders. Most notably at least two Trump picks have
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raised questions about whether officials have met their obligations to
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the courts. Legal exports say the slow pace of efforts
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to enforce court orders it is not surprising. The judicial
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system moves methodically, and judges typically ratchet up efforts to
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gain compliance in small increments. They said. There is also
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probably another factor at work that makes them especially difficult
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to hold the administration to account. The court can't enforce
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their own rulings. That has to be done by the
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exact executive branch, said Michael the former judge and Watergate
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special prosecutor. He was referring to U S. Marshals, the
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executive branch law enforcement personnel who carry out court orders
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related to contempt proceedings, whether that is serving subpoenas or
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arresting officials whom a judge has ordered jailed for not complying.
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Former judges and other legal experts said judges might be
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calculating that a confrontation over contempt proceedings could result in
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the administration ordering marshals. Two to five courts. That type
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of standoff could significantly undermine the authority of judges. The
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Supreme Court's June decision to scale back. The ability of
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lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions, and the administration's success
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at persuading the justices to overturn about a dozen temporary
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blocks on its agenda in recent months might only embolden
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Trump official to defy lower courts, Several legal experts said
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so to. Mayor echoed that concern in a recent dissent
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when she accused the High Court of rewarding lawlessness by
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allowing Trump officials to deport migrants to countries that are
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not their homelands. The conservative majority gave the green light,
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She noted after Trump officials twice carried out deportations despite
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lower court orders blocking the moves. This is not the
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first time the court closes its eyes to non compliance,
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nor I fear will it be the last, so Tomao wrote.
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Yet each time this court rewards non compliance with discretionary relief,
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it further erodes respect for courts and for the rule
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of law. Two months after the Federal Court temporarily blocked
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Trump's freeze on billions and congressionally approved foreign aid, an
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attorney for relief organizations said the government had taken literally
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zero steps to allocate this money. Judge Emir Ali a,
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a Biden appointee, has ordered the administration to explain what
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it's doing to comply with the order. Trump officials have
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said they will eventually release the funds, but aid groups
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worry the administration is simply trying to delay until the
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allocations expire in the fall. Meanwhile, about sixty six thousand
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tons of food AID is in danger of rotting and
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warehouses AIDS cases are forecast to spike in Africa, and
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the government projected the cuts would result in two hundred
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thousand more cases of paralysis caused by polio each year.
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Already children are dying unnecessarily in Sudan. Such situations have
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prompted some former judges to do something most generally do
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not speak out. More than two dozen retired justices appointed
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by Republican and Democratic presidents have formed the Article three
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Coalition to push back on a tax and misinformation about
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the courts. Robert J. Sindridge, who helped found the group,
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said the country is not yet in a constitutional crisis,
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but that the strain on the courts is immense, citing
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the administration's response to orders as well as its attacks
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on judges and law firms. Sindrich said the judiciary is
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being put under siege, and in a thumbnail story, Trump
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pushing Texas to create more Republican leaning congressional seats. The
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Texas Legislature kicks off a special session Monday, with President
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Trump keeping tabs on the action from Washington Governor Greg Abbott.
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The Republican called the session following devastating flooding in central Texas,
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but redistricting is also on the agenda, and Trump is
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pushing Texas state lawmakers to draw a congressional map with
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his man when he has five more House districts that
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favor Republicans. Doing so, it bolster the party's chances of
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maintaining control of the House after next year's midterms. Trump
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has no public events on his schedule Monday. He is
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planning a private lunch with Vice President j D Vance
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at the White House and next. Japan's prime minister vows
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to stay in office and oversee US tariff deal. Japan's
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Prime Minister Shigeru Ishibe vowed Monday to remain in office
28:32
to oversee issues such as rising inflation and US tariffs
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after his party's election loss. On Sunday, speaking at a
28:41
news conference, Ishiba said he accepts the harsh results of
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his Liberal Democratic parties losing the majority, and that he
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intends to stay on to address ongoing economic challenges. We
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must accept this initial situation humbly and sincerely, he told
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national broadcaster NHS as a results rolled in Sunday night.
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While I painfully feel my serious responsibility over the election results,
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I believe I must also fulfill my responsibility I bear
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for the country and the people so as not to
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cause politics to stall or go adrift, she added. According
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to translated remarks from the Associated Press, Japan, like other
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countries and trade partners such as the European Union, faces
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the deadline of August first to strike a tariff's deal
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with the United States, and our next story. Democratic fissure
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over Israel hits a moderate swing state. Democrats in North
29:44
Carolina are engaged in a bitter fight if the state
29:49
party condemned Israel for apartheid rule, exposing internal rift in
29:54
a moderate swing state that is festering nationally and could
29:59
complicate the party's plans for the twenty twenty six midterm elections.
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The narrow approval of a strongly worded party resolution late
30:09
last month calling for an arms embargo on the US
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ally comes after two other state parties adopted similar measures.
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Democratic voters in New York chose a long time critic
30:22
of Israel as their nominee for mayor. A crowded Senate
30:28
primary in Michigan, where many Democrats withheld their votes to
30:32
protest Israel policy during last year's presidential primary, could open
30:37
another avenue for the party disputes to emerge. The disparate
30:42
places where the debate is flaring southern and Midwestern states,
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as well as deep blue coastal cities, reveal a deepening
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tension between the party's base and its elected leaders. Some
30:57
are warning that the intractable foreign policy issue threatens to
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distract the party from developing a coherent message about the
31:05
economy and other issues that connect with the largest swath
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of voters. Any Time Democrats are dealing with this issue,
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they're not working on electing other Democrats, said Amy Bloch Deluche,
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a vice president of the Jewish Caucus of the North
31:23
Carolina Democratic Party. It's a problem. The state party's executive
31:30
committee passed the resolution June twenty eighth, the same weekend,
31:35
Senator Tom Tillis, the Republican of North Carolina, broke with
31:40
President Trump on his tax and immigration bill and announced
31:44
he would not run for a third term. Democrats seized
31:49
on the announcement, but didn't put as much attention on
31:52
it as they otherwise might have because they were still
31:55
squabbling with one another over the Israeli resolution. Trump has
32:01
offered near unconditional support to Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin
32:06
Netanyahu and his right wing government, claiming last year that
32:10
any Jewish person who votes for Democrats hates their religion,
32:16
while using a broad fight against anti Semitism to clamp
32:20
down on universities and protesters. Internal democratic divisions over Israel
32:27
hampered party unity and depressed young voter enthusiasm during last
32:31
year's presidential campaign. As Israel struck back at Hamas for
32:37
its surprise murderous attack on October seventh, twenty twenty three,
32:44
critics of Israel occupied college campuses across the United States.
32:50
Demonstrators heckel Democratic candidates. Activists called for Democrats to cast
32:56
protest votes during the presidential primaries. In Michigan, more than
33:01
one hundred thousand Democrats, thirteen percent of primary voters declared
33:08
themselves uncommitted in the state's presidential primary. To signal their
33:12
displeasure with President Biden's policy on Israel. Trump went on
33:17
to win Michigan and every other battleground state. Democrats' differences
33:24
over Israel have continued to smolder. They ignited last month
33:30
that some Democrats expressed dismay that their party nominated Zohran
33:35
Mandani for mayor of New York. Mamdani, who is Muslim,
33:41
declined to condemn the slogan globalize the Infada, which some
33:48
Jews view as a call to violence against them and
33:51
many palestiniansy as support for their struggle for a homeland.
33:56
Critics have called such language particularly trouble after Jews were
34:01
attacked in d C, Boulder, Colorado, and elsewhere. Republicans have
34:08
had their own inter party fights over Israel in the
34:11
United States role on the world stage, particularly after Trump
34:15
authorized the bombing of Iran last month. Trump announced a
34:19
ceasefire between Israel and Iran soon afterward, and hosted Netanyahu
34:24
at the White House this week as he sought a
34:27
ceasefire in Gaza. In a March poll by the Pew
34:31
Research Center, fifty three percent of US adults expressed an
34:37
unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from forty two percent in
34:42
March of twenty twenty two, before the co conflict began.
34:47
Democrats had a worse view of Israel than Republicans, with
34:51
sixty nine percent of Democrats expressing an unfavorable opinion compared
34:57
with thirty seven percent of Republicans. Democrats in a May
35:02
survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs gave Israel
35:07
an average rating of forty one on a one hundred
35:10
point scale, an eleven point declined since twenty twenty two
35:14
and the lowest rating in forty seven years of polling.
35:19
More than two thirds of Democrats said the United States
35:22
should not take a side in the conflict between Israel
35:27
and the Palestinians. In twenty percent said it should take
35:31
the Palestinian side, in ten percent said it should take
35:34
Israel's side. Riem Subai, who heads the Arab Caucus and
35:40
the North Carolina Democratic Party, said she pushed for the
35:44
arms embargo resolution because it is not only morally correct
35:50
but also sound politics. We see this as an issue
35:55
that is uniting and bringing in more voters to the
35:58
Democratic Party. By said, this vote here at the North
36:03
Carolina Democratic Party is an invitation to those that have
36:08
walked away from the party or have walked away from
36:11
voting altogether in the past election. Holley so For, CEO
36:17
of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, disputes such claims,
36:22
noting that Representatives Jamal Bowman, Democrat of New York and
36:26
Corey Bush, Democrat of Missouri lost to their primaries last
36:30
year to candidates who backed Israel. So For's group supported
36:34
their opponents, as did the super Pack of the American
36:38
Israel Public Affairs Committee. It's actually this resolution that is
36:44
more the outlier than anything else, so For said of
36:47
the North Carolina measure. At least two other state parties
36:51
have passed resolution similar to North Carolinas, though in more
36:56
measured tones. The Wisconsin Democratic Party adopt one last month
37:01
that said its base is overwhelmingly supported of restricting weapons
37:06
to Israel. The Washington State Democratic Party approved one last
37:11
year that called on the state's congressional delegation to demand
37:16
that military assistance to Israel fully comply with a law
37:20
that bars aid to countries that violate human rights. The
37:26
resolution in North Carolina said the States Party supports an
37:30
immediate embargo on all military aid, weapons shipments, and military
37:37
logistical support to Israel that should remain in place until
37:42
Amnesty International and other rights groups certify that Israel is
37:47
no longer engaged in apartheid rule, supporter said. The party's
37:52
executive Committee approved at one hundred and sixty one to
37:57
one hundred and fifty one. Opponents said they believe there
38:01
were three more votes against the measure, but acknowledged that
38:04
it had passed by a small margin. The resolution is
38:08
non binding, and opponents said its only effect was to
38:12
put the Democrats in fighting on display. Democratic candidates and
38:17
officeholders won't change their positions on Israel, and the resolution
38:22
takes energy from campaigning against Republicans, said former Congresswoman Kathy Manning,
38:27
Democrat of North Carolina and chair of the Democratic Majority
38:32
for Israel. Supporters of the resolution need to reflect on
38:38
what happened when opponents of aid to Israel gained momentum
38:42
during Michigan's presidential primary, she said. The end result, in
38:47
part is Donald Trump on the state of Michigan. Manning said,
38:51
and how are people feeling about that? Republicans meanwhile, are
38:58
reveling and the Democrats and painting them as opposing the
39:02
United States, chief ally in the middle East, the radical
39:06
left continues to drive misguided anti Israel and America last policies.
39:14
Matt Mercer, a spokesman for the North Carolina Republican Party,
39:18
sat in a statement. North Carolina Senate race is viewed
39:23
as one of Democrats' best opportunities for picking up a
39:27
seat next year, and Democrats have been energized by Tillis's
39:31
decision to retire former Congressman Wiley Nicol has entered the
39:36
Democratic primary in April, and party members are waiting to
39:40
see whether former Governor Roy Cooper also gets in the race.
39:45
Nicol called the party resolution extreme and said cutting off
39:49
defensive weapons to Israel would amount to a death sentence
39:53
for thousands. In the House, Nickel voted for a bipartisan
39:57
aid package for Israel and against the publican one, and
40:01
said he takes a nuanced view on US policy there.
40:05
If I were in the US Senate right now, with
40:08
what I see from Neta, Yahoo and Trump, I would
40:12
be hard pressed to vote for some offensive weapons to Israel.
40:16
He said. Cooper, who has won five state elections, would
40:21
be the instant front runner in the Democratic primary, and
40:24
Nichol said he would have to decide whether to stay
40:26
in the race if Cooper got in. Cooper, who declined
40:30
to comment, has not said to take a detailed position
40:34
on Israel because he hasn't served in Congress, and the
40:38
party could avoid a messy primary clash over Israel if
40:41
he clears the field. That may not be true in Michigan,
40:45
where four Democrats are vying for the nomination to replace
40:49
Senator Gary Peters, the Democrat who is retiring. The candidates
40:54
include Representative Hailey Stevens, a longtime champion of Israel, and
40:59
a duel as said the former health director of Wayne County,
41:05
who has described Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide. Before
41:12
the Senate primaries play out, Mamdanni will stand for election
41:16
this fall in New York's general election that will offer
41:20
a test of how his views on Israel play in
41:24
an overwhelmingly democratic city with the largest Jewish population in
41:29
the world outside of Israel. Mam Donnie received the most
41:35
primary votes for mayor in the city's history, but party
41:39
leaders did not rally around him. Instead, several moderate Democrats
41:43
came out against him. Representative Laura Gillen, Democrat of New York,
41:48
called Mamdani too extreme to lead New York City on X.
41:54
Representative Tom Squoze, Democrat of New York, who had endorsed
41:59
former New York government Andrew m cuomo in the mayor's race,
42:02
said he had serious concerns about Mamdani. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand,
42:09
the Democrat of New York, told a popular New York
42:12
City radio host, that some of her constituents were alarmed
42:17
by some of Mamdani's statements, particularly references to global jihad.
42:23
She later apologized for mischaracterizing his comments. Supporters of the
42:28
North Carolina resolution said Democrats in Congress were out of
42:32
touch with ordinary voters. Young voters are taking a fresh
42:37
look at the party because of the resolution, said Mark Blotchkis,
42:41
who belongs to a group of Jewish progressives in the
42:44
state party that backs the resolution. The danger, he said,
42:50
is in the party not recognizing where it's electorate is going.
42:56
And the next story is the Trump staffers who set
42:59
out to reshape their alma maters. Less than a decade ago,
43:05
Gregory W. Brown helped raise funds for the University of
43:09
Virginia by posing for pictures in his old dorm room.
43:14
Now he is central to the Trump administration's efforts to
43:17
crack down on his alma mater for promoting diversity, equity,
43:21
and inclusion programs. As one of two Justice Department leaders
43:25
and UVA alumni to threaten sweeping funding cuts and compel
43:30
the school's president to resign, Brown is one of key
43:34
several key architects a President Trump's wide reaching campaign to
43:39
root out liberal ideology from higher education. Who graduated from
43:44
the prestigious universities the President has emboldened them to transform.
43:50
Driven by personal experience, the staffers are pushing to overhaul
43:54
the progressive culture they feel has come to dominate elite
43:57
colleges and universities. One newly minted Harvard Law School graduate
44:04
now a policy advisor to the president, spurred an investigation
44:08
into the legal journal he wants to help edit. Another
44:11
Trump administration official, Josh Gruenbaum, repeatedly confronted a student group
44:17
affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine while he was
44:20
earning business and law degrees from New York University in
44:25
assets on a multi agency task force that investigates schools
44:29
for reports of anti Semitism. Democrats have denounced the push
44:35
as hypocritical, accusing Trump's staffers of benefiting from the nation's
44:39
most selective universities, only to deny disadvantaged students the ability
44:45
to do the same. Administration officials maintained that the schools
44:49
have sacrificed academic rigor for a version of diversity that
44:54
excludes right leaning swaths of the country. In interviews, five
44:59
of the officials described feelings of social isolation on campuses
45:04
and closed minded environment hostile to young conservatives. It's a
45:09
good thing we have bright individuals who have attended these
45:12
schools and witnessed some of these injustices firsthand, said Caroline Levitt,
45:18
White House Press Set Secretary. We want people with lived
45:23
experience leading the charge. Overseeing parts of the extensive effort
45:29
is Stephen Miller, the longtime Trump aid and White House
45:33
Deputy Chief of Staff, rose to national prominence as a
45:37
far right student voice defending Duke University lacrosse players wrongfully
45:44
accused of rape. Miller was hired at least two architects
45:50
of the push to remake higher education, May Mailman and
45:54
Daniel Wasserman. A senior White House official, said both graduates
46:00
schools where their conservative values often put them at odds
46:04
with classmates. Together, the staff under Trump who prizes his
46:09
degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Business School, and Vice
46:13
President J. D. Vance, who graduated from Yale Law School,
46:18
are looking to reshape academia, working to purge campuses of diversity,
46:23
equity and inclusion efforts and imbue the next generations of
46:27
students with their worldview. In the last six months, the
46:32
Trump administration has pulled hundreds of millions of dollars in
46:36
federal funding to Columbia University, frozen billions of dollars intended
46:42
for Harvard, and launched investigations into whether universities nationwide are
46:48
doing enough to protect Jewish students from anti semitism are
46:52
using illegal race and sex based hiring quotas. The administration
46:58
this month struck a deal with in Trump's alma mater
47:02
to rescind a transgender woman's athletic awards and apologize to
47:07
athletes for allowing her to compete on the swim team there.
47:11
In twenty twenty two, to White House officials said they
47:16
also are close to a deal with Columbia, still hope
47:19
to strike a deal with Harvard to set an example
47:23
for how universities ought to adhere to demands from the
47:27
federal government. Interviews with the Trump staffers and a dozen
47:32
people who are studied alongside them paint a picture of
47:36
a powerful cohort that believes they are restoring a version
47:40
of American culture that accepts and produces leaders with values
47:45
like theirs. Their critique of Ivy League universities and higher
47:50
education more broadly reflect the growing influence of the populist
47:55
wing of the GOP, which is led by prominent Republicans
47:59
such as Senators Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas and Josh Hawley,
48:04
Republican of Missouri and Vance, who have tried to distance
48:08
themselves from the elite universities they attended. Just last year,
48:14
Washerman was an editor on the Harvard Law Review, one
48:18
of the nation's premier legal journals, working out of an
48:21
academic building in Cambridge, where he was socially alienated from
48:26
his more liberal classmates and frustrated with a focus on
48:30
selecting diverse voices four of his former classmates set in
48:35
interviews This year. As a policy advisor to the President,
48:39
he helped launch an investigation into that publication. The New York
48:44
Times first reported. Wasserman did not respond to requests for
48:49
comments or a list of questions about incidents on campus
48:52
that his classmates described. Other high level staffers are using
48:58
their newfound power to addressed grievances they developed as active
49:02
alumni watching their schools change. Brown, who graduated from UVA
49:09
in nineteen eighty nine, grew concerned that the school was
49:13
becoming too focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to
49:18
several people who knew him and his posts on x
49:22
He did not return an interview request. Har Meet Dilan,
49:27
the Civil Rights Division director at the Justice Department, also
49:31
attended UVA, shared that frustration. These are very concerning issues,
49:37
Dylan said at a Federal Society of n in May,
49:40
accusing UVA of attempting to hide DEI programs from the
49:45
Justice Department. UVA used to get their check for me
49:50
every year when they made their solicitations, but they might
49:54
not be getting that either. Dylan cast blame on the
49:59
school's outgome. When President James E. Ryan, who was a
50:03
year ahead of her in law school, she and Brown
50:06
pinned seven letters to the university calling for changes to
50:11
its DEI initiatives, Growing increasingly frustrated as Ryan declined to respond,
50:18
Ryan resigned late last month, a decision he said he
50:23
made to avoid a costly fight and to protect researchers
50:27
reliant on their federal funding and students who could lose
50:31
federal aid or their visas. The Trump administration staffers stressed
50:36
that they are operating with the full support of the president,
50:40
was personally ordered the campaign against liberalism on college campuses.
50:45
One senior White House official, who like other staffers interviewed,
50:49
spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not
50:52
authorized to speak publicly about the topic, said Trump grew
50:56
more passionate about the issue when he was in New
50:59
York City for one of his criminal trials, and anti
51:02
Israeli demonstrations erupted on Columbia's campus, producing images of clashes
51:08
between students waving Palestinian flags and police dressed in riot gear. Then,
51:15
candidate Trump asked members of his team if he could
51:18
go to the campus to show solidarity with Jewish people,
51:22
The senior official said. His team ultimately rejected his request
51:27
because of logistics and security concerns. The official said, but
51:31
the President remained focused on what he saw as woke
51:35
ideology consuming institutions meant to shape the next generation of
51:41
American leaders. Colleges and universities have for decades been centers
51:47
of social movements and the country's ideological struggle over identity
51:52
and free speech. Traditionally, liberal student bodies have led such
51:57
social movements, while conservative think have argued that political correctness
52:02
and identity politics were subverting higher education. The tension reached
52:09
a fever pitch as students mobilized in protest of the
52:12
Israel Gaza war, and the Trump administration, backed by its
52:16
conservative Supreme Court, railed against the DEI programs that have
52:21
flourished in part because of student activism calling for more
52:25
representation and support for marginalized groups. The result on many
52:30
elite campuses has been a social environment increasingly divided along
52:35
ideological and political lines. The administration staffer said, where conservative students,
52:42
especially of those aligned with Trump, are in the minority.
52:48
Wasserman attended Harvard Law School at a time when a
52:52
doxing truck drove through campus blasting names of Harvard's leading
52:56
anti Semites. Anti Israel demonstrators held protest in the middle
53:01
of libraries, and the university lost a landmark Supreme Court
53:06
fight over its affirmative action and missions policies. He made
53:11
a name for himself among his classmates after Hamas's October
53:16
seventh murderous attack of twenty twenty three on Israel, mocking
53:21
students who tried to uplift Palestinian voices and criticizing diversity
53:26
initiatives as misguided and perverse, according to interviews with four
53:31
of his law school contemporaries, who spoke on the condition
53:35
of anonymity for fear of reprisal, at one point, students
53:40
sitting behind him in class saw him sharing a meme
53:43
they found racially offensive, said two of his former classmates.
53:48
Wasserman lost friends over the incident, those classmates said, and
53:52
by the end of his law degree, as his insults
53:55
towards students defending Palestinian causes grew louder, he interacted almost
53:59
to exclusively with other conservative students on campus. According to
54:03
four of his former classmates, it seems like he was
54:07
lobbing grenades into conversations to rile things up. One of
54:11
them said, Brown, for his part, fit in with many
54:16
of his college classmates when he attended UVA in the
54:19
nineteen eighties, living in a prestigious area of campus and
54:23
playing an active role in his fraternity. According to three
54:26
people who knew him, as an undergraduate. As an alum,
54:31
Brown twice represented students who sued the school, including one
54:35
accused of threatening Black Women Matter protesters. Some conservative alumni
54:41
view the proliferation of social justice demonstrations as part of
54:45
a negative cultural change at UVA. They say the fact
54:51
that white house students made up just over forty six
54:53
percent of first year's last year, which was down more
54:57
than seventy five percent after Ground graduated it reflects the
55:01
system that unjustly prioritizes diversity over academic achievement. Once Brown
55:10
took the job as the Justice Department's Deputy Assistant Attorney
55:14
General for Civil Rights, UVA became one subject of his focus,
55:20
the culmination of mounting grievances that shocked and dismayed some
55:24
of his former classmates. What is tragic about Greg's story
55:30
is that the university he loved so much will likely
55:33
remember his contribution to its history as one of myopic
55:38
and opportunistic destabilization, said Chris Butler, who identified herself as
55:44
Brown's former resident assistant. He used his current position to
55:49
shore up power and influence for an elite class that
55:54
serves only itself, and finally, pilot makes aggression of maneuver
56:00
to avoid collision with a B fifty two bomber. A
56:04
passenger jet landing in North Dakota performed a go around
56:08
to avoid colliding with an Air Force B fifty two.
56:11
According to the commercial pilot's comments posted to social media
56:15
at the airline involved in the incident, SkyWest Flight thirty
56:19
seven eighty eight, acting as a delta connection between Minneapolis
56:23
to mine South Dakota. Excuse me, North Dakota, was cleared
56:27
by the tower for landing on Friday, the airline set
56:30
in a statement, but the pilot performed a go around
56:33
when another aircraft became visible in their flight path, said SkyWest,
56:37
which is investigating the incident. Air Force officials did not
56:42
provide details of the incident. They did say that a
56:45
Hulking B fifty two bomber was performing a flyover at
56:49
the North Dakota State Fair, which took place in Mayno,
56:53
home to a commercial airport and an air Force base.
56:58
The commercial pilot explained to his passengers at the B
57:01
fifty two appeared to be on a converging course. According
57:04
to a video posted to Instagram and verified by a
57:07
story full, he apologized for making an aggressive maneuver to
57:13
avoid a mid air collision, adding that nobody told us
57:16
about the other aircraft. Flight tracking data reviewed by The
57:20
Washington Post showed the flight on a descent, make a
57:23
sharp right turn near the airport, then climb in altitude
57:27
as it circled around to land. Flight tracking data showed
57:31
the B fifty two performing ellipses in the area around
57:34
the same time. This is not normal at all, the
57:37
pilot said, long story short, It was not fun, but
57:41
I do apologize for it. The passengers applauded once his
57:45
announcement finished. The Air Force did not immediately respond to
57:49
questions about the location and altitude of the B fifty
57:52
two during the incident and whether the base had coordinated
57:55
its flyover with the airport. And this concludes the reading
57:59
of the Watch Washington Post for Today, Monday, July twenty First,
58:03
your reader for the today has been Rod Brotherton, and
58:05
if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning this program,
58:10
please feel free to call us at eighty five nine
58:12
four two two sixty three ninety. Again, thank you for listening,
58:17
and now please stay tuned for continued programming right here
58:23
on Radio I