Transcript

8.11.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the reading of the
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Washington Post for this Monday, August eleventh. And as you know,
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RADIOI is reading service intended for people who are blind
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or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printed material. Your reader for today is Rod Brotherton. And
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as you know, usually on Monday, we start by reading
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Paul Prather's weekly column from the Hair Leader, but Paul
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didn't write one this last week, so let's head to
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the news. The leading story today is FBI dispatching agents
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to DC streets as Trump ways calling the National Guard.
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The FBI has begun dispatching agents and overnight shifts to
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help local law enforcement prevent carjackings and violent crime in Washington,
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according to two people familiar with the matter, as President
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Trump threatens a federal takeover of the nation's capital and
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considers calling up the National gude Guard. A decision on
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calling up the Guard could come as soon as Monday,
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when Trump plans a news conference of the White House
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on crime in DC. According to a US official speaking
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on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation,
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Trump on Sunday compared forthcoming action against DC crime to
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his administration's aggressive crackdown against the legal immigration at the
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southern border, saying that he plans to immediately clear out
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the city's homeless population and take swift action against crime.
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Be prepared. There will be no mister nice guy. We
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want our capital back, Trump wrote in a post on
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his Social Truth social media platform. A White House official
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said in a statement that we won't get ahead of
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the President on any potential announcements, but the President has
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been clear that all options are on the table when
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it comes to making DC safe again. A spokesperson for
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DC Mayor Muriel E. Brat Bowser's office said the White
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House had not briefed the Bowser administration on any plans
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to deploy the National Guard of the city. Spokespeople for
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the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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In recent days, the administration has authorized up to one
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hundred and twenty agents, largely from the FBI's Washington Field office,
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to work overnight shifts for at least one week alongside
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DC police and other federal law enforcement officers in the
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nation's capital, According to the people familiar with those efforts,
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who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss
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specifics of a staffing plan that has not been made public.
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The deployment of FBI agents to deal with local crime
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puts agents from the bureaus counter Intelligence, public Corruption, and
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other divisions with minimal training in traffic stops out on
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the streets in potentially dangerous encounters, diverting them from their
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typical jobs at the bureau, and it comes as Trump
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is publicly portraying the city is rampant with violent crime,
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even as the mayor refutes that characterization, pointing to police
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data showing a drop in violent crime. Last week, Trump
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ordered federal law enforcement agents from several agencies to be
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deployed on city streets and called for more juveniles to
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be charged in the adult justice system. Staffing assignments this
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week revealed for the first time how many new FBI
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resources the Trump administration could divert to local crime and
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the frustration it is caused within the bureau. FBI agents
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generally do not have authority to make traffic stops, and
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the people said the agent's roles could include supporting the
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other agencies during traffic stops. The FBI also is dispatching
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agents from outside DC, including Philadelphia, to help with the
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surge of federal law enforcement in the district. According to
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multiple people familiar with plans, federal land is scattered across Washington,
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and local enforcement often works alongside federal law enforcement to
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patrol these and surrounding areas, but the US Park Police
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and Secret Service, which have more experience in patrolling streets,
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typically do this work, not the FBI. The Secret Service,
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and the US Secret Service Uniformed Division have also been
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directed to launch special patrols in DC. According to a
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White House official who also spoke on the condition of
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anonymity to discuss the operation, the Trumpet Minister has not
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asked the d C Department, the chief law enforcement agency
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responsible for policing local crime, how best to deploy these
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federal resources, according to a senior official with the Department,
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who again spoke on the condition of anonymity because they
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were not authorized to speak about the matter. Because DC
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is not a state, the federal government has unique authority
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to exert control over city affairs, even amid objections from
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the residents and locally elected government. The Home Rule Act
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of nineteen seventy three gave DC residents the ability to
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elect their own mayor and Council members, A federal takeover
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of the d C police force would be an extraordinary
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assertion of power in a place where local leaders have
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few avenues to resist federal encroachment. Agents from the FBI
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Washington Field Office continue to participate in the increased federal
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law enforcement presence in DC, which includes assisting our law
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enforcement partners, the FBI said in a statement Sunday morning.
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Trump has been wrapping up his criticism of the nation's
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capital in recent days. Last week, the President posted on
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social media a photo of a former US Doge Service
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staffer who was injured in an attempt did carjacking. Soon
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after the attack, DC police arrested a fifteen year old
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boy and girl from Maryland and charged them with unarmed carjacking.
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I'm going to make our capital safer and more beautiful
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than it ever was before, Trump wrote in a truth
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social post Sunday morning. It's all going to happen very fast,
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just like the border. In a different social media post
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on Sunday, Trump said the ten am White House news
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conference on Monday will be about the city's cleanliness, its
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physical renovation, and its general condition. The Mayor of d C,
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Muriel E. Bowser is a good person who has tried,
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but she has been given many chances, and the crime
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numbers just get worse, and the city only gets dirtier
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and less attractive, Trump said in the Afternoon Truth social post. Bowser,
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a Democrat, has been pushing back against Trump's characterization of
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the city she leads, pointing out on MSNBC Sunday morning,
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the crime rates have been dropping in the nation's capital.
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In DC, violent crime is down twenty six percent compared
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with this time in twenty twenty four, according to DC
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Police data, and homicides are down twelve percent. DC police
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have made about nine hundred juvenile rests this year, almost
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twenty percent fewer than during the same time frame last year.
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About two hundred of those charges are four violent crimes,
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and at least four dozen are carjacking. If the priority
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is to show force in an American city, we know
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he can do that here. Bowser, who said that she
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spoke to Trump a few weeks ago, set on MSNBC.
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But it won't be because there's a spike in crime.
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The reassignment of FBI agents has further demoralized some agents
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in the Washington Field office, who believe they have little
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expertise or training in thwarting carjackers, and were already angered
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by a spate of firings inside the agency that they
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deemed unwarranted. Last week, the Trump administration ousted with no explanation,
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FBI personnel across the country, including the head of the
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Washington Field office. In twenty twenty, the first Trump administration
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dispatched FBI agents, mostly from the Washington Field office, to
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respond to the racial justice protests that June in the
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nation's capital. The Trump administration had wanted a federal presence
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in the streets as a deterrent to rioters or protesters
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might try to vandalize federal property. Several agents were captured
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in a photograph taking a knee in what was viewed
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as a gesture of solidity to solidarity to protesters marching
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against racial injustice, an image that went viral and fueled
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accusations from conservatives that the bureau harbor's or liberal agenda.
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But people familiar with the FBI have said agents are
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not trained for riot control and were placed in an
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untenable position as they knelt down trying to defuse attention situation.
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In the first months of the current Trump administration officials
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reassigned several of those agents who were captured in that
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photo from nearly five years ago. If d C doesn't
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get its act together and quickly, we will have no
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choice but to take federal control of the city and
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run this city how it should be run, and put
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criminals on notice that they're not going to get away
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with it anymore, Trump wrote on social media last week
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in a post that included a bloody image of the
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injured former DOGE staffer. This spring, Trump ordered the creation
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of the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, a vehicle
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for his long held fixation on quality of life issues
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in the city, including homeless encampments and graffiti. On Sunday,
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homeless advocates and DC residents criticized Trump's threats to remove
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homeless people from d C as inhuman, costly, and impractical.
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That money could be better spent getting folks housing and support.
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Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and Communications director at the National Homelessness
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Law Center, said of the federal law enforcement presence in DC.
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Deborah Goozby, a sixty seven year old homeless woman, sat
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in her usual spot greeting shoppers outside a DC grocery
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store on Sunday morning. That's never gonna happen, she said
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after hearing that Trump wanted to send people experiencing homelessness
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far from the nation's capital. They can't make me leave.
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The next story netting Yahoo vows to take Gaza City quickly.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his plans to take
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over key areas of the Gaza Strip, saying Israel would
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move quickly to evacuate and then seize Gaza City, where
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doctors and journalists said late Sunday that an Israeli strike
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targeted and killed six journalists, including two correspondents for the
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Al Jazeera's Arabic language news channel. The strike, which hit
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just before midnight, struck a tent housing the journalist outside
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the gate of Al Shifa Hospital, According to the facility's director,
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Mohammed Abu Salmiya. It came several hours after Nitayahu, at
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a news conference in Jerusalem, told reporters that Israel would
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begin its operations by first enabling the civilian population to
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safely leave the combat areas to designated safe zones, Abu
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Salmaya said. Two prominent reporters, Annas El Shaarif twenty eight
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and Mohammed Kirka thirty one were among the dead. To
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Al Jeriza, Khmerman, Ibraham Thayer and Mohammad Newfal were also killed,
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according to the network. The Israeli military issued a statement
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confirming the strike and accused Sharif of serving as the
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head of Hamas's terrorist cell. Sharif had reported from northern
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Gaza to the Network for the past twenty two months.
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In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was
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gravely worried about his safety after the Israeli military targeted
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him and what it called a smear campaign. Earlier in Jerusalem,
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Netanyahu said Israel's goal is not to occupy Gaza, but
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it would entertain and maintain overriding security responsibility for the enclave,
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he said, including its demilitarization the establishment of a security
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zone along its border with Israel. The same time, Israel
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would support a civilian administration there, but that would exclude
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both Hamas and the Palacesian Authority, which is based in
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Romala in the West Bank. Ned Tanyahu's security cabinet had
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approved a plan early Friday to expand military operations in
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the territory, but stopped short of backing the Prime Minister's
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earlier proposal for full occupation. The Israeli military's chief of staff,
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I al Zamir, opposed the Prime Minister's push to capture
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and hold indefinitely the few areas outside of Israel Israel's control.
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He cited threats to the twenty Israeli hostages authorities presume
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are still alive, as well as the strain the campaign
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would put on Israel's exhausted reservists. The Israeli Defense Forces,
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which launched its campaign after the murderous Hamas attacks of
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October seventh, twenty twenty three, said it already controlls seventy
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five percent of Gaza, where nearly two million Palestinians have
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been displaced multiple times since the start of the war.
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The destruction is so vast that many residents are living
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in crowded tent camps or in the rubble of their homes.
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When asked about the potential length of the operation, Natanyahu said,
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is the timeline that we set for the action is
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fairly quickly. In reports Sunday, Israel's public broadcaster Khan said
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defense officials as saying the effort to seize control of
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Gaza City would take at least six months. The military
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operation would require the mass forced displacement of Palestinians from
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Gaza City, the territory's largest city, although it is unclear
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how many residents remain, but unlike similar operations in the
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early months of the war, this campaign is drawing fierce criticism.
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Problem within Israel, the forced displacement of all residents of Kazas,
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which is the point of departure underpinning the plan that
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was approved by the Security Cabinet, simply isn't going to happen.
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Israeli commentator Siver Plocker wrote Sunday in Israel's largest daily
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yeddouthe and ruth anyone who envisions them flowing out doesn't
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understand where they're living, doesn't know a thing about the
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laws of warfare, and doesn't know a thing about Jewish morality,
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and doesn't understand just how different our situation has become.
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Plocker wrote, referring to the growing condemnation of Israel from
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some of its closest allies. In recent weeks, the humanitarian
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situation in Gaza has sharply deteriorated. The rising number of
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deaths from malnutrition and starvation in Israeli blockade on all
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food to Gaza was partially lifted in May, with an
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increase in aid deliveries last month, but humantarian workers and
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hunger experts say it is not enough to reverse the
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famine that is now unfolding. On Sunday, the Gaza Health
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Ministries that it recorded another five deaths from malnutrition, bringing
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the total number of such deaths to two hundred and seventeen,
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including one hundred children. In a statement, the humanitarian organization
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Save the Children called the toll a devastating milestone that
17:28
shames the world. What kind of a world have we
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built to let at least one hundred children be starved
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to death while the food, water, and medical supplies to
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save them wait just miles away at a border crossing
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set Amad Alindawi, Save the Children's regional director for the
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Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe. Netanyahu rebuffed accusation
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Sunday that Israel was deliberately starving Palestinians and Gaza, and
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claim some of the recent images of malnourished children and
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gads were fake because they had underlying conditions. But there
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was a problem of deprivation, no question about it. Now,
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who added doctors have said, the fact that some starving
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children have chronic diseases makes their treatment all the more urgent.
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This was a holy, predictable and avoidable tragedy the humanitarian
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organizations have been warning about for months. Alan nowI said
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we knew this would happen. No one can say they didn't.
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Now for the next story, we just move a little
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north and read about the ferocity of recent killings in
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Syria reveals the country's fragility. Charred bodies set in an
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awful heap on a city sidewalk, blood mixed with dirt
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in a traffic circle where civilians were gunned down. Grieving
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women clasped arms on swedest stricken streets, wearing black. This
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was the aftermath of the brutal violence that seized the
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Sweda area in mid July, among the deadliest in Syria
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since rebels toppled the Bashar Assad's dictatorship last year. In
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a fight charged by sectarian rage. More than one thousand
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people were killed as gunmen battle for days, according to
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human rights groups. Weeks later, the conflict still simmers, with
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government forces surrounding the city of Sweda and a stand
19:41
off with Druze fighters within the carnage has polarized Syria,
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sparking protests by members of the Druze religious minority, counter
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demonstrations by government supporters, and accusations of treachery and bowls
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of revenge. They killed and we killed, said Sad Alawadi
20:04
fifty eight, a Bedouin who fled the violence with his family,
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speaking of his former Druze neighbors, There is blood between us.
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The two sides battle again briefly Sunday along several front
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lines and inside the city. The mainly Druze residents who
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remain running low on water, fuel and other essentials. Stranded
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and a no man's land between the forces are perhaps
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hundreds of uncollected bodies. Rescue workers say nearly a week
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of intense fighting in the city in southwest Syria was
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set off by the kidnapping of a Drue merchant and
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retaliatory abductions of Sunni Muslim Bedouin's residents say the communities
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have clashed in the past, including over land. The ferocity
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of the dispute this time delivered a warning about the
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fragility of Sirius social fabric and the authority's failure to
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quiet the confrontation is highlighting the struggles of President Ahmed
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al Shaha's young government and responding to tensions or outbreaks
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of islands without making them worse. Swedish Descent was marked
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by atrossis and summary killings, heavy weapons fire and airstrikes.
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Buildings throughout the city were looted, Villages beyond it were
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emptied and burned. Nearly two hundred thousand people have been displaced,
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according to the United Nations, and scores remain missing. The
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majority of those killed appear to be Drus, who are
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the majority in Sweda and the surrounding province of the
21:46
same name, said Fadel Abdulgani, head of the Syrian Network
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for Human Rights. It was unclear how many were combatants
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or civilians. The dead included at least twenty six children
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and forty seven women, he said. Survivors told Washington Post
22:03
reporters who visited the city and surrounding villages in recent
22:07
weeks that atrocities were committed by all the armed factions.
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Everyone contributed to the blood that was shed in the province,
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said Leith Albaldos, a local Druis leader seen as close
22:21
to the government. Bodies were kept for days in the
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courtyard in the morgue of the main city's hospital. Some
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were later buried in a mass grave on a hillside
22:32
overlooking the city under red brown dirt. The dead were
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still being tallied, doctors at hospital said for days. They said,
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requests for coffins poured in from the villages around Sweden.
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The combatants on one side included local Bedouins, Sunni tribesmen
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from across Syria who had answered Bedouin pleas for help,
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and Army Caior Ministry troops. They battled Druze fighters backed
23:04
by Israel, which carried out airstrikes in Sweden and in
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the Syrian capital of Damascus. Mazine Aldine, a Druze resident,
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said members of the state's General Security Forces and allied
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Sunni tribesmen killed his brother, saft Juan, executing him with
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a bullet behind the ear, for dumping his body under
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a nearby bridge. Saft Juan had stayed in the city
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to protect their family's home after Mazen left for a
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village outside the city to care for his own family
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on July fifteenth, as the violence was peaking. When Mazan returned,
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he said he discovered that the building containing their home
23:46
had been torched, so had their business, a car showroom
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on the first floor. Around the building, someone, presumably the tribesmen,
23:56
had scrawled graffiti with the name of tribes and the
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Syrian tess from where they came, along with taunts denigrating
24:04
the Drews as disloyal Down with traitors. A phrase on
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the blackened building column red Safwan's killing fit, a pattern
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described by residents. Sunni fighters raided Drews homes, demanding any
24:19
weapons inside, and in some cases confronting and executed the residents.
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The family of Hossam Saraya, a Syrian American who returned
24:30
to Sweden last year, said he and several relatives were
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killed in a similar fashion. They were grabbed from their
24:38
homes by men, the family said included government forces, marched
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to a square and executed while kneeling. The alleged killings
24:49
by government fighters were another woeful turn for Syria, whose
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citizens are clamoring for order, accountability and inclusive rule. The
25:00
Marian's minority communities and the hard line Islamists who are
25:04
fighting alongside the government, as well as to misgivings about Shahra,
25:08
the former leader of Syria's Al Kada affiliate. We will
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not accept Al Sharrah, even if he slaughtered all of us,
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said Kamal mount Claude, a Druze resident whose family building
25:21
was burned. We will not accept him as long as
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a single Druze man remains. The government said it sent
25:29
troops to Sweden to tamp down the conflict between the
25:32
Bedouin and the Drus quickly, though the troops suffered setbacks,
25:37
including an ambush by Druze fighters that killed at least
25:40
a dozen people and the Israeli airstrikes which killed hundreds
25:45
of soldiers. A government spokesman said, soon the government troops
25:49
were seen as a faction in the fighting rather than
25:52
a mediating force. Videos were circulated showing men in uniforms,
25:57
including military force and military police, poe forcibly shaving off
26:02
the mustaches of druzemen, and acts of forced humiliation. Other
26:07
videos showed Drew's men being executed, prompting the Interior Ministry
26:12
to release a statement that condemned the killings and said
26:15
an urgent investigation had been launched. Last month, the Justice
26:21
Ministry set in a committee composed of judges and others
26:25
that would investigate violations in Sweda. And refer perpetrators to
26:29
court Vedouin quarters of Sweda are also were viciously attacked,
26:34
including the neighborhood of Al Maquas in the east of
26:38
the city. Residents from there said the attacking Druze fighters
26:42
were loyal to Hikmat al Hirich, the Drew's spiritual leader
26:47
in Syria. Government supporters have signaled out Hurrij as an
26:52
investigator and instigator of the chaos in Sweda, faulting him
26:57
for opposing the government's presence and calling, and for calling
27:01
on Israel for support. Israel, which has demanded that Syria
27:05
keep it south demilitarized and as frequently bombed military and
27:10
other installations to enforce the edict, said it interviewed last
27:14
month to protect the Duruz and intervened last month. The
27:18
representative for Hriji responded to her request for an interview,
27:23
said he was unavailable. Ballus, the Dreu's leader, blamed Riji's
27:28
stubbornness for the violence in Sweden. They only wanted to
27:33
start the fire, he said. In the past, incidents like
27:37
the kidnappings that set off the conflagration were resolved in
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a few days by tribal figures, said Irmad Salama, forty,
27:45
a Bedwin resident from al makwas this time no one
27:50
wanted to initiate the peace making. He said. Both sides
27:53
were stubborn. The government's allies have charged that Israel support
27:58
emboldened Dru's factions in the city seeking autonomy from the government.
28:03
Drew's residents have alleged that the state was looking for
28:06
any excuse to bring arrest of Sweda to heal. Whatever
28:11
the reasons, Salama's Drew's friends called him to warn him
28:15
about the dangers that were coming. This time is bigger
28:19
than the others, he quoted them as saying. As the
28:23
fighting intensified, Salama's relatives his brother, while a brother in
28:28
law and nephew and a cousin were stuck outside of Sweda.
28:32
We told them not to come. They worried about their families,
28:36
he said, and they were killed as they attempted to return.
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He said. At least twenty six people were killed by
28:44
DRUS fighters in al Maquas, he said. Some Bedouin residents
28:49
said they were shocked and how quickly Drew's neighbors turned
28:52
on them. Mohammed Alwadi, who's twenty two, said He sheltered
28:57
Drew's residence from his neighborhood as the started. When the
29:01
government forces withdrew, it was those people we hosted who
29:06
turned against us, looting his house, he said. He and
29:10
his family spoke to reporters in a village west of
29:13
Sweden called Al Dara, where they were sheltering. Elsewhere in
29:17
the village, Druze families were being protected too, after fleeing
29:21
Al Falah, a Druze village several miles away, said Khalid Ahmad,
29:25
who's forty two. The two villages had long been intertwined,
29:30
and as the violence started in Sweden, they agreed to
29:33
a truce broken by local leaders. Amad said the Drews
29:38
are peaceful. Honestly, they would not be involved in all
29:42
of this. He said, the problem is the Hiriji gangs.
29:48
When post reporters visited a few days after a ceasefire
29:51
was announced July nineteenth, government fighters had established a checkpoint
29:56
in Wildgha, west of the city and warned of snipers
30:02
just down the road. As they spoke, a white Toyota
30:06
pickup truck drove toward the checkpoint, sparking panic. Fighters rushed
30:11
to the car, dragging the driver out a druzeman carrying
30:16
a rifle mounted with a sniper's scope. It was not
30:20
clear whether he had driven to the checkpoint by mistake
30:23
or had gotten lost. At first, the man was desperate.
30:27
Please I have a son, he pleaded to the fighters,
30:30
who quickly surrounded him, binding his hands with zip ties.
30:34
Then he sound resigned. If he wanted to kill me,
30:38
just kill me. An officer told the man he would
30:41
be taken in for investigation. By the hour, the city's
30:47
complexion had been altered, and every night convoys arranged by
30:52
the Syrian Arab Red Crescent or shuttling mostly Bedwin families
30:56
out of Sweden. Someone buses, some sharing the bad of
31:00
flatbed trucks with furniture and sheep. Some said they are
31:04
unlikely to ever return. A few miles from Wilga, Druze
31:10
fighters watched the convoy preparing to set out one evening
31:13
from the city's Ormond Square. A few see the death.
31:18
The Bedouin were being allowed to safely depart. Sixteen people
31:23
were killed, women and children. One fighter growled referring to
31:27
a massacre that he had occurred in one of the villages.
31:31
Another Druze fighter with a machine gun slung over his
31:34
shoulder had to be restrained by his comrades. They killed
31:39
my brother, he shouted, for a few feet away from
31:41
the passengers in the island convoy, waiting nervously for it
31:46
to move. Oh my, this next story. A family opened
31:51
the town's first bookstore. A bathroom bill is driving them
31:57
away from billion, South Dakota. Their time in the small
32:04
wood mess midwestern town was nearly over, but for now,
32:08
Mike Feelan still had a business to run, so he
32:12
and his daughter leashed their dog and headed up the street.
32:15
The commute took three minutes. The Feelings passed sprawling Victorian
32:20
houses with wrap around porches. Then Mike pulled out his keys.
32:26
When they moved here from Chicago five years ago, Mike
32:30
discovered Vermilion had a university, locally made bread Oprah magazine,
32:35
once declared the best in the world, and an author
32:39
who'd won the National Book Award. But Vermilion didn't have
32:43
a bookstore. No university town should exist without a place
32:48
to buy novels and new nonfiction, Mike thought, so he
32:52
opened one and named it Outside of a Dog after
32:57
Groucho Marx's quote, outside of a Dog a book is
33:01
man's best friend, Mike, twisted the keys and looked down
33:05
main Street. Nearly all of the town's quaint brick storefronts
33:09
had Pride flags in their windows. He'd once dreaded moving
33:13
to a red state, but Vermilion had surprised him. He
33:18
wanted to stay here for the rest of his life.
33:21
But in the morning, his wife and son would head
33:23
east with a trailer, and soon Mike and his daughter,
33:27
whom the Washington Post is not naming to protect her,
33:31
would follow with the truck. Mike had tried to assure
33:36
his daughter she wasn't the reason that the family was
33:39
leaving South Dakota, but the ten year old was savvy.
33:44
She knew the state had passed a measure preventing transgender
33:48
young people like her from using girls' bathrooms, and she
33:54
knew that right after that law passed, her parents said
33:57
they were moving soon. They live in a new England
34:01
town with explicit protection for her, but none of her friends.
34:05
Over the bookstore, where she sold handmade bracelets four or
34:08
five dollars, Mike pushed the door open. His dog, Waldo,
34:14
took his place as the store's greet His daughter went
34:18
to the back to finish the summer homework he designed,
34:21
and three customers appeared. I hear you're closing, a middle
34:26
aged man and a John Deere hat said well, Mike said,
34:31
we may have found a buyer. Mike knew some people
34:35
talked about the laws that limit trans writes as if
34:38
they only affected transgender people and their families, but those
34:42
laws have ripple effects. He knew Vermilion wasn't just losing
34:48
a random family, It was losing beloved community members. And
34:52
if the sale didn't work out, the town would lose
34:55
its bookstore too, and so the town had pooled the tree.
35:01
If their gambit worked, the store would soon have what
35:04
might consider to be ideal successors. Mike's daughter told him
35:08
and his wife Jen at three or four that she
35:11
thought it was stupid she had to wear boys clothes.
35:15
It felt much better when she wore dresses and other
35:18
girl items. She understood that her older brother Calvin, was
35:23
a boy, but her heart felt like being a girl,
35:26
she told him at the bedtime each night. When she
35:29
started kindergarten, school leaders said she could use the nurse's bathroom,
35:35
but the other kids wondered why their classmate made such
35:39
frequent trips to the nurse. For a while, the five
35:43
year old held her arm halfway in the hall and
35:45
pretended it was broken, but eventually she stopped eating and
35:49
drinking at school to avoid having to go. The next year,
35:54
Mike and Jin petitioned the Vermilion School Board to let
35:57
their daughter use the girl's bathroom. The board discussed what
36:01
they described as restroom practices at four meetings in twenty
36:05
twenty one. People testified both four and against the proposal,
36:10
but the board adopted a policy that allowed her to
36:14
use the girl's bathroom. Though Vermilion is more split, South
36:19
Dakota is a deeply red state. Just nine of its
36:24
one hundred and five lawmakers are Democrats, and when Vermilion
36:28
passed its policy, it became the only district in the
36:31
state to explicitly allow trans girls to use the girl's bathroom. Still,
36:37
for some lawmakers, one was enough. The next legislative session
36:42
in early twenty twenty two, Republican state represented Fred Deutsch
36:46
introduced a bill to ban trans girls from girls' bathrooms.
36:51
Deutsch argued that biology matters, but many of his fellow
36:56
Republicans said the issue was best left to local school boards.
37:00
They rejected the bill in the years that followed, Republicans
37:04
spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ads targeting the
37:07
trans community. Most Americans support restrictions for trans people, according
37:12
to the February Pew Research study. At the beginning of
37:17
this year's session, the South Dakota legislature considered another bathroom bill,
37:22
and this time had passed. The Feelings knew other families
37:27
with trans kids had fled South Dakota, but they'd always
37:31
hoped they wouldn't have to. Their daughter is too young
37:35
for medical interventions, and she is more interested in theater
37:38
than sports, so none of the state's other anti trans
37:42
bills had affected them. But neither Mike nor Jen could
37:46
bear to force their daughter to use the boy's bathroom,
37:49
and even returning to the nurse's office felt untenable, and
37:53
so Jen an audiologists applying for jobs and states that
37:57
have vowed to protect children like hers, And soon she
38:00
had a new gig and a U haul riddle for
38:03
the first weekend in August. Now all the Fealings need
38:07
was a plan for the bookstore. The day before half
38:12
the family left for the East Coast, Mike's daughter approached
38:15
the counter with her math pages all worked out. She
38:18
said she was bored, and he suggested she pick out
38:22
a book to read. It's my one and only summer,
38:25
she said, how evil. Though the state's anti trans bands
38:30
had come to dominate their life in the past few years,
38:34
most of the Phalin's parenting consisted of the normal stirth.
38:38
They negotiated bedtimes and dirty bedrooms, junk food intake, and
38:43
the best way to spend the summer. Their daughter loved
38:46
Taylor Swift, and for her tenth birthday had only requested
38:50
a trip to the mall with her mom. The bell
38:54
tied to the outdoor rang, and Mike stood it was
38:57
time to relinquish the counter. The potential new owners were here.
39:02
Nova and Elias Donstead were a young trans couple who'd
39:07
met after they both moved to South Dakota for school.
39:11
He was a trans man who wrote poetry. Nova was
39:16
a non binary person who worked at the local hospital.
39:21
They fell in love, reading next to each other on
39:23
most evenings, and they fell for South Dakota the way
39:26
many transplants did. Accidentally, they'd come to Treasure of the
39:31
Community theater and the sandwich Shock tucked into a corner
39:34
of the Ace hardware, but as soon as Mike said
39:38
he was leaving, Elias knew he didn't want to live
39:41
in a town without a bookstore. He wasn't sure about
39:45
how a grad student and nurse assistant could afford to
39:49
buy a business, but they called Mike to ask him
39:51
if they could take it over. Before they'd even settle
39:55
on a price, another Mike in town talked to them
39:58
into starting a go fundment so all of Vermilion could
40:02
help pay for it, and they raised nearly twenty two
40:05
thousand dollars for a down payment. Now the sale was
40:10
almost official. There was, on one hand, a dream come
40:14
true for the couple, and on the other terrifying. Mike
40:18
is tall and affable, kind of guy that might be
40:21
seen as a family man supporting his child. Novah's hair
40:26
was buzzed and dyed pink, and Elias's fresh cut was
40:30
a shade somewhere between blue and green. They were both
40:34
quiet prone to wearing book themed t shirts, but they
40:38
worried some might see them as outsiders. We looked like
40:42
what we are, Novah said one afternoon, visibly queer. Mike
40:48
hasn't been sure he'd find a buyer. While he was
40:51
always turned to small profit bookstores aren't exactly cash cows
40:56
in the age of online shopping, and yet it was
40:59
clear Vermilion wanted to keep their bookstore. That afternoon, half
41:04
the town seemed to stop by to express its grief.
41:08
I was honestly worried when you announced you were leaving
41:10
that we would lose the bookstore. A man named Daniel
41:13
Milroy said. Milroy had been the shop's first customer. He
41:18
works in the Vermilion landfill, and he met Mike when
41:21
Mike was clearing out junk from the retail space. Milroy
41:26
had always wished Vermilion had a bookstore, and when he
41:29
heard Mike was opening one, he placed an order right
41:33
there from the landfill. I'm sorry to see you go,
41:37
Milroy said. His voice broke and he held out his hand.
41:43
The store was crowded, and then it was quiet. At
41:45
around five pm, and Mike turned off the lights. It
41:49
was time to say goodbye to Vermilion. A group of
41:53
customers had told Mike they were planning a feeling farewell
41:56
at a brewery on Main Street, and when Mike walked over,
42:00
he expected he'd find maybe a small group. Only eight
42:03
people attended their sindoff When they left Chicago, But as
42:07
soon as Mike opened the brewery door, he could see
42:09
more than one hundred people were there. Many attendees didn't
42:14
seem to understand why the state government had gotten involved
42:17
in an issue the town had already handled locally. A
42:21
man in the seventies pointed to the Feeland's girls, who
42:24
was playing old maid with the other girls. Why didn't
42:28
that little girl do Why she didn't hurt anybody? He
42:31
asked his wife. Why are they going after such a
42:34
small group of people? While guess asthmacd about his new town.
42:39
A group of adults with disabilities begged Jin for selfies.
42:43
Every Wednesday. She helps teach them how to dance. But
42:46
I don't want to leave, one woman said, before wrapping
42:49
her arms around Gin, I want to dance with you.
42:52
Elias and Nova hung near the back, quietly sipping root beers.
42:57
Are you the new owners? A Unitarian couple asked, we
43:01
will support you, We want you here. The party seemed
43:05
like it might never end. The sunset and no one left,
43:10
and Mike and Jin and Calvin needed to get on
43:13
the road early, so he grabbed a microphone and thanked
43:17
everyone for the past few years. This is a nice
43:21
send off, he said, I'm sorry that there's an end
43:24
to our time Vermilion in the future. When Mike thought
43:28
about Vermilion, he knew he'd always feel that he had
43:31
been taken from his family too soon. But here was
43:34
his daughter, surrounded by people who loved her. Maybe some
43:38
politicians didn't want her living the life she was supposed
43:41
to live, he said, but Vermilion had always felt safe,
43:45
the feelings children could walk downtown from the rambling two
43:48
story Victorian and Mike and Jin never worried about him.
43:53
That was a gift, wasn't it to belong somewhere, even
43:56
if only for a few years. So thank you all
44:00
of being part of that, Mike said, for making that
44:02
happen for us and for each other too. Now switching gears,
44:08
the Russians cheer Putin's Alaska invitation, envision no concessions on Ukraine.
44:16
Russian officials and commentators crowed about landing a summit between
44:21
President Putin and President Trump on Friday in Alaska, the
44:25
first time the Russian leader has been invited to the
44:28
United States outside the United Nations since twenty seven and
44:33
apparently without the Kremlin having made only any had made
44:37
any clear concessions over its warn Ukraine. European and Ukrainian
44:42
officials meanwhile scrambled to respond to the administration sudden reversal.
44:48
Days before announcing the summit Friday, Trump was expressing frustration
44:54
over Putin's continued bombardment of Ukrainian cities and threatening to
44:58
ratchet up sanctions on Russia. Russia's Special Economic Envoy Kiril Dmitriyev,
45:06
a key interlocutor between the Kremlin and Trump administration, said
45:11
the decision to hold the summit in Alaska was symbolically
45:14
important for the US Russian partnership, as the US purchased
45:18
the territory from Russia in eighteen sixty seven for seven
45:23
point two million dollars or about two cents an acre.
45:29
Born as Russian American Orthodox roots forts fur trade, Alaska
45:35
echoes those ties and makes the US an Arctic nation. Dmitria,
45:41
posted on x Billionaire Konstantin Malifayev, sanctioned by the Obama
45:48
administration for funding pro Kremlin separatist in Ukraine and interfering
45:54
with elections in several countries, said Alaskans respectfully remember the
45:58
Russian past and their Orthodox present. Russian military bloggers also celebrated,
46:06
while tippering expectations the meeting in Alaska as every chance
46:12
to become historic, wrote pro Kremlin war correspondent Alexander Kattz
46:17
on his channel on the Telegram messaging app. That is,
46:21
of course, if the West does not try to pull
46:25
off another scheme. Western analysts said Trump's should tread carefully.
46:32
Trump has chosen to host Putin in a part of
46:35
the former Russian empire. Michael McFall, an, Obama era US
46:40
ambassador to Russia, wrote on X wonder if he knows
46:45
that Russian nationalists claimed that losing Alaska unlikely. Ukraine was
46:50
a raw deal from Moscow that needs to be corrected.
46:55
Sam Green, a professor in Russian politics at King's College, London,
47:01
said the venue favored Russia. The symbolism of holding the
47:06
Trump Putin summit in Alaska is horrendous, as though designed
47:11
to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought
47:15
and sold. Green said, never mind that mainstream Russian discourse
47:20
maintains a claim that Alaska should be returned to Russia.
47:24
The differences are Alexander the I offered to sell Alaska,
47:30
Putin seized Ukrainian territory by force and illegally annexing Crimea
47:36
in twenty fourteen and launching the full invasion and illegally
47:40
claiming to annex four other Ukrainian regions in twenty twenty two.
47:45
Trump has often expressed admiration for Putin, but in recent weeks,
47:50
Trump has complained about the Russian leader's resistance to the
47:53
full and unconditional cease fire that Ukraine and its allies
47:58
have demanded before any peace. Russian analyst said it was
48:04
clear that Trump had swerved first and agreeing to the meeting,
48:08
it was unlikely. They said that the Kremlin had dropped
48:11
its ultimate goals for Ukraine, demilitarization, the installation of a
48:16
pro Russian regime, and neutral status outside NATO. Trump didn't
48:23
want to fall into confrontation with Russia, said Tatiani Stanova,
48:28
a senior fellow with the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Trump
48:33
himself said that further sanctions probably wouldn't force Putin to
48:37
change his mind. We could see from these signals that
48:41
Trump could be opened to attempt new and he did
48:44
just so days before the end of his ultimatum. A
48:48
former senior Kremlin official said, Russia was moving toward compromise
48:53
by signaling that it was ready for a ceasefire. Politically,
48:57
it is easier for the Kremlin to continue the war
49:00
until Ukraine's final collapse and to make peace, said the
49:03
former official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to
49:07
discuss the sensitive matter. This is why they are clinging
49:11
to the idea out there that needs to be a
49:14
temporary but not permanent truce and then in the meantime
49:18
Ukrainian elections can be conducted. The Kremlin has long sought
49:23
to dominate Ukraine through the election of a friendly president
49:27
and parliament. In Kiev, Ukrainians have repeatedly taken to the
49:31
streets to demand a free and democratic future in the
49:35
European Union. After Ukrainian and European officials met with Vice
49:41
President j D Vance on Saturday, the coordinated in response
49:45
to Russian's proposal, as the leaders of Europe's major NATO
49:49
powers Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Poland through their
49:54
backing behind Ukrainian and Battle President Vladimir Zelenski, declaring that
50:00
they agreed with Ukraine's demand for a cease fire or
50:03
of reduction in hostilities before any negotiations could start. In
50:10
a statement joined by Ushlevandrleden, the president of the European
50:15
Union's Executive branch, the leaders reiterated that Russia alone was
50:21
responsible for the war and that Moscow should not be
50:24
allowed to redraw international borders by force. The discussion with
50:29
Vance followed confusion over a meeting in Moscow between Putin
50:33
and Trump's envoy Steve Whitkoff. Putin's suggestion that he was
50:38
willing to halt Russian attacks on Ukraine's Zaparizia and Kirsan
50:43
regions was understood by the Americans as an offer to withdraw.
50:48
According to a person briefed on the talks, Russia has
50:52
proposed that Kiev relinquish the don Bas area of eastern Ukraine,
50:58
which includes the Luhansk and Don'tsk region, in exchange for
51:02
a ceasefire, but without offering anything else in return. According
51:07
to the person briefed on the negotiations, The person spoke
51:10
on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. The
51:16
Kremlin is not willing to give back territory in caer Sun,
51:20
in Zaparizia or Russian military gains have secured Moscow's prized
51:25
land bridge to be to the occupied Crimea, the person said.
51:31
In their statement, European leaders said a ceasefire should be
51:35
a precondition for negotiations, not a Russian bargaining chip. Trump
51:41
told reporters Friday that the Kremlin's proposal involved some swapping
51:46
of territories to the betterment of both countries. Russian analysts
51:51
said Putin would not agree to withdraw forces from Kershn
51:55
or Zaparizia, regions that Russia illegally annexed in twenty twenty
51:59
two but still does not fully control. Russian troops are
52:05
not going to make any step backwards, said Sergei Markov,
52:10
a pro Kremlin analyst. The only compromised Russia would make,
52:15
he said, would be to halt its military campaign to
52:19
seize the Odessa and Kharkiv regions and the cities of
52:23
Kershan and Zaparisia, which remain under Ukrainian control. Zelensky reiterated
52:30
Saturdy that he would not accept any deal that involved
52:35
giving territory to Russia, which he said was forbidden by
52:40
Ukraine's constitution. It's not clear whether the Russian's proposal including
52:45
any guarantee that Moscow simply wouldn't resume fighting. The Kremlin
52:51
has insisted that any agreement addresses what it calls the
52:55
root causes of the conflict by demilitarizing Ukraine and chain
53:00
Jingott's government. There are no guarantees, said Markov, the pro
53:05
Criminin analyst, But there are also no guarantees that Ukraine
53:09
won't begin the war again. Russia's main interest in the summit,
53:14
he said, was to cast Ukraine and Europe as obstacles
53:19
to Trump's dream of broker in peace. Russia hopes that
53:25
Trump will finally become sensible and see that Zelenski is
53:30
the main reason for the war that's happening now, and
53:33
that the second reason for the war is European leaders,
53:37
and that they are his enemies too. Markov said Trump
53:42
will see that Putin is one of his few good
53:46
political friends. Janis Kluge, a deputy head for the German
53:51
Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Putin's proposal was
53:58
itself part of the war. It's just a temporary ceasefire
54:03
in exchange for land. Klude said it is meant to
54:07
give Putin an advantage in the longer run against Ukraine
54:12
and the West and Finally, Trump is rushing to rebuild
54:17
his ballroom, a review process, though could take years. President
54:23
Trump is rushing to break down ground next month on
54:26
a giant White House ballroom, who has not yet submitted
54:29
the project for a review that experts said is required
54:33
by law and often takes years to complete. A security
54:37
fence and a tennis pavilion, either of which involved the
54:41
White House itself, each took at least two years to
54:45
move through the National Capital Planning Commission, which vets construction
54:49
of and renovation to the city's federal buildings. The Trump
54:54
administration plans to start work next month on a two
54:57
hundred million dollar, ninety thousands square foot structure that would
55:02
nearly double the footprint of the main building in its
55:05
east and west wings. Records show the project has yet
55:09
to be reviewed by the commission. Three former Planning Commission
55:13
members told The Washington Post that a review of any
55:16
exterior construction project at the White House is required by law.
55:22
If we had jurisdictional review over a fence, we would
55:26
logically have jurisdiction over an entire wing being added to
55:29
the White House, said L. Preston Bryant Junior, who chaired
55:33
the Commission for nearly a decade before stepping down in
55:35
twenty nineteen. At first, Trump administration officials set in nineteen
55:41
sixty four executive order allows the president to bypass the Commission,
55:47
but after a Post reporter pointed out the legal requirement,
55:50
officials said the Commission will be a part of that
55:53
process at the appropriate time. Since taking office in January,
55:58
Trump has overseen myriad interior design retouches, vowed to replace
56:03
a terribly remodeled bathroom in the Lincoln Bedroom, and paved
56:07
over the Rose Garden lawn. He also installed twin eighty
56:11
eight foot flagged flagpoles on the North and South White
56:14
House lawns, projects that Bryant said probably should have gone
56:19
through the Commission. But the ballroom project is far bigger
56:24
and clearly dear to Trump's heart, rectifying a problem that
56:29
has irked him for at least fifteen years, a lack
56:32
of entertaining capacity. Currently, for events with more than two
56:36
hundred and fifty guests, workers must erect what Trump has
56:40
called an old, broken canvas tent. Trump's passion for the
56:45
plan was on display last week as he walked the
56:47
White House roof line with an architect real reveling in
56:51
his latest and most ambitious efforts to leave his mark
56:54
on the iconic building. When reporters shouted questions, Trump coiled.
57:00
He replied that he was taking a little walk, trying
57:03
to find more ways to spend my money for the country.
57:07
Anything I do is financed by me, he said, in
57:11
reference to his promise to help pay for the two
57:13
hundred million dollar project, which he has said will be
57:16
privately funded. Trump has promised to release a list of donors,
57:20
though no private donations have yet been locked in. A
57:24
senior White House official said the National Capital Planning Commission
57:28
has one public meeting scheduled on September fourth, before Trump
57:32
plans to begin work on the ballroom. No agenda has
57:36
been posted. The twelve member body, composed of presidential and
57:39
mayoral appointees, Cabinet serati's, and local officials, is likely to
57:44
be present in a friendly audience. One member, DC Mayor
57:48
Muriel E. Bowser, declined to comment on the Commission's involvement
57:52
in the project. Others did not respond to requests for comment.
57:58
And this concludes the reading of the Washington Post for Today, Monday,
58:01
August eleventh. Your reader for today has been Rod Brotherton.
58:06
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions concerning the program,
58:10
please feel free to call us at eight five nine
58:13
four two two sixty three ninety And now thank you
58:16
for listening, and please stay tuned for continued programming right
58:21
here on Radio I