8.27.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the reading of the New York Times for
August twenty seventh. As a reminder, RADIOI is a reading
service intended for people who are blind or have other
disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material. Your
reader for today is Chris Greco. We'll start today's reading
with the Merriam Webster Word of the day nebulous and

(00:22):
adjective n E b U l o U s nebulus.
What it means. Nebulus is a formal word used to
describe something that is difficult to see, understand, or describe.
In other words, something indistinct or vague. A lot of
philosophical concepts can seem nebulous at first, but a good

(00:44):
instructor can cut through the jargon and help students see
how they apply to day to day in life. Again.
Word of the day for today, nebulus. Now we read
the front page headlines from today's edition. Seeking to control
the Fed, Trump risks upending a pillar of the global economy,

(01:06):
Expecting on the front lines motherhood. In Ukraine's military, DOGE
put critical social security data at risk. Whistleblower says the
deadly risks of reporting in Gaza. How North Korea promotes
Kim's dear daughter as a worthy heir. The real reason

(01:26):
Americans worry about trade. Some programs for black students become
illegal dei under Trump. With Trump's takeover, Washington finds a
mission to resist. The first article from the front pays
of today's edition is entitled Seeking to Control the Fed.
Trump risks up ending a pillar of the global economy

(01:50):
by Ben Casselman, Colby Smith, and Tony Rahm. In his
month's long battle to take control of the Federal the Reserve,
President Trump has tried threats, a calling, and, in one
particularly memorable news conference with a hard hat wearing Jerome H. Powell,
public humiliation, but he has always stopped short of the
step that advisers warned could royal financial markets and upend

(02:12):
the pillar of the global economy. Attempting to fire a
FED official on Monday evening, he took that leap. Mister
Trump's target was not mister Powell, the FED chair, at
least not for now. Instead, it was Lisa Cook, one
of the Fed's six other governors. The President, in a
letter said he was removing miss Cook quote for cause,
citing allegations of mortgage fraud. Miss Cook has not been

(02:35):
charged with any crime, but mister Trump has made little
secret of his true aim. He wants to control the FED.
Janet L. Yellen, who was mister Powell's immediate predecessor as
FED chair and later served as Treasury Secretary under President
Joseph R. Biden Junior, said she was utterly alarmed by
the move. I feel this is now turned into an

(02:56):
all out assault on the Federal Reserve and an attempt
by President Trump to really gain control over decision making
at the FED, she said. Peter Conti Brown, an expert
on FED government's at the University of Pennsylvania, said Miss
Cook's firing, if successful, would mark the end of central
Bank independence as we know it. In the short term,
mister Trump's attempts to fire and miss Cook creates more

(03:18):
uncertainty at a critical moment for FED policy. Miss Cook
has vowed to fight her ouster, and on Tuesday, her
lawyer promised to file a lawsuit challenging what he called
an illegal action. Legal experts say she is a strong case,
given that she hasn't been convicted of a crime, and
that the fraud allegations involve her private conduct, not her
work at the FED. That sets up the potential for

(03:41):
a protracted legal battle between Miss Cook and the President,
which almost certainly won't be resolved before the fed's next
meeting in mid September, and perhaps not from many meetings
after that. It is possible that the Republican controlled Senate
could confirm a replacement for Miss Cook while she is
still fighting for her seat, a standoff with no precedent
in the fed century long history. In the longer run,

(04:03):
if mister Trump succeeds in replacing Miss Cook, he will
have reshaped the Central Bank and a way hardly anyone
thought possible before last week. During a marathon cabinet meeting
on Tuesday, the President appeared to delight at his efforts
so far to remake the FED and its roster, telling reporters,
we'll have a majority very shortly, so that'll be great.

(04:24):
For all the attention on mister Trump's fight with mister Powell,
it was always clear that the President would get to
name a new FED chair when mister Powell's term ended
next spring. Mister Trump was also expected to get to
fill another seat on the board in January, though that
seat came open several months early when Adrianna Kugler unexpectedly
resigned this month, but Miss Cook's term does not end

(04:46):
until twenty thirty eight, long after mister Trump will have
left office. If he is able to fill both her
seat and Miss Couchler's, he will have appointed a majority
of the fed's seven member board even before mister Powell
steps down his chair. And if mister Trump is able
to fire Miss cook that raises the possibility he could
fire other FED officials as well if they refused to

(05:07):
approve the interest rate cuts that he has demanded. Officially,
the President said he was firing Miss cook for cause
over allegations that she made false statements in obtaining two
mortgages in twenty twenty one before she joined the FED.
Bill Pulsey, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency,
first made those accusations on social media last week and

(05:28):
subsequently referred the matter to the Justice Department, which opened
an investigation. FED experts said the allegations against Miss Cooker
serious and should be investigated, but they said it was
clear that they were part of a larger effort by
mister Trump to install loyalists at the Central Bank. After
Miss Cooker stepped down this month, the President said he
would nominate Stephen Moran, the chair of the Council of

(05:50):
Economic Advisors, to replace her. On Tuesday, the President appeared
to suggest that mister Moran could instead receive a nod
to replace miss Cook, which would afford him a longer
term if the Senate confirms him. It's a mistake to
see this as being about Lisa Cook, said lev manand
a professor at Columbia Law School who studies the FED.
He's trying to take control of the Board of Governors

(06:13):
by pushing out and throwing the full force of the
federal government against them to scare them into resigning. Miss
Yellen said she worried that mister Trump would target other
members of the fed's policy setting Open Market Committee and
either try to force them out or intimidate them into
enacting his preferred policies. This is a strategy that can
be used against potentially any member of the Federal Open

(06:34):
Market Committee to try to gain control of the policy process.
She said. It can make members of the Federal Open
Market Committee very worried about expressing or acting on their views.
In a statement on Tuesday, a FED spokesperson said the
Central Bank would continue to carry out its duties as
established by law, and abide by any court decision on
Miss Cook's status. Congress, through the Federal Reserve Act, directs

(06:58):
that governors serve in long, thickire terms and may be
removed by the President only for cause. The statement said,
long tenders and removal protections for governors serve as a
vital safeguard ensuring that monetary policy decisions are based on data,
economic analysis, and the long term interests of the American people.
Economists warned that if mister Trump succeeds in pressuring the

(07:20):
FED into cutting raids, it could lead to faster inflation
in the short run and make it harder for the
Central Bank to manage the economy in the long run
as businesses, investors, and consumers lose confidence that policymakers are
focused on basing decisions on evidence rather than politics. It
seems clear that President Trump is working to undermine the
independence of the FED, which would lead to worse economic

(07:42):
performance in higher inflation, said Alan Blinder, a Princeton economist
and former FED Vice chair. What American Wants That Economists
have long warned that attempting to oust FED officials could
also cause panic and financial markets particularly among bond investors
who count on the FED to keep inflation low in
the financial system stable. The threat of bond market turmoil

(08:05):
has been one of the principal arguments that advisers to
mister Trump have used to dissuade him from firing mister
Powell in the past. So far, however, mister Trump's attempt
to fire missus Cook has generated little reaction in financial markets.
Yields on the Tenure Treasury Note, which reflect the interest
rates that investors demand to lend the government money, fell

(08:25):
on Tuesday. That race fears that mister Trump could be
emboldened to take further steps to intervene in the FED.
If bond markets don't worry, he's going to keep going,
said Mark Spindle, chief investment officer at Potomac River Capital,
who co wrote a book on central bank independence. The
administration's attack on miss Cook appeared to be timed to
cause the maximum amount of disruption inside the FED. Landing justice.

(08:49):
Central bankers from around the world were beginning to gather
in Jackson, Wyoming for one of the most closely watched
conferences of the year. Mister Powell and other FED officials
tried to keep the conference focus on the state of
the economy and policymaker's response to it, but from the
start it was overshadowed by the threats originating from the
White House. The irony of the timing is that mister

(09:10):
Trump is stepping up his attacks on the FED just
as policymakers appeared poised to began giving him the rate
cuts he has long demanded. In his speech at the
Jackson Hall Conference on Friday, mister Powell gave his strongest
indication yet that the Central Bank was ready to resume
rate cuts as early as next month. Mister Trump's frustration
with the Central Bank dates back to his first term

(09:32):
in office, when he lambasted mister Powell, whom he had
appointed as chair, for refusing to cut interest rates. His
anger intensified he returned to office this year, and the
Fed paused its campaign of rate cuts, in large part
out of concern that mister Trump's own policies would drive
up inflation. Mister Trump has repeatedly threatened to force out
mister Powell. In July, he showed off the draft of

(09:55):
a letter firing the FED chief in a meeting with
House Republicans. Later that month, he toured the FED headquarters
and sparred with mister Powell over cost overruns in the
Central Bank's building renovation project, something allies of a president,
including mister Poulte, have suggested to give the president cause
to fire him. Through it all, mister Powell has pursued
a strategy of protecting the Fed's independence on monetary policy

(10:18):
matters while acceding to mister Trump's demands in other areas.
The Central Bank removed a diversity and inclusion section from
its website and did remote work arrangements for staff and
froe hiring moves that aligned with mister Trump's executive orders,
although the FED framed its decisions as voluntary, but mister
Powell has consistently defended the principle of central Bank independence

(10:40):
and has pushed back against suggestions that mister Trump could
fire him. Asked shortly after the election if he would
step aside and ask mister Powell offered a one word
answer no. That strategy may not be working. Mister Trump
appears to be growing bolder in his attempts to take
control over of previously independent economicans to two US Mister

(11:01):
Spindle said early this month he fired Erica Macintarfur, the
head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after her agency
reported unexpectedly weak jobs numbers. Look at August, mister Spindle said,
how did August start? He fired the head of the BLS.
How is August ending? He fired a sitting governor. The

(11:23):
next article from the front page of today's edition is
entitled Expecting on the front Lines Motherhood in Ukraine's Military
by Cassandra Vinograd and Alexandr Chupko. Crouching in a trench
on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, Olena felt the
ovulation app on her phone. Buzz I realized that I

(11:44):
really needed to be at home making a baby, not
sitting in this trench. Recalled Elena a combat medic, but
that wasn't an immediate option, and her desire to start
a family was as strong as her need to serve.
After about six months of trying navigating appointments with fertility
doctors around her limited leave, it finally happened, said Olena, who,

(12:05):
like other women interviewed for this article, requested that only
her first name be used for reasons of military protocol.
She got pregnant but continued to serve while some people
might think fighting a war while pregnant is crazy, Helena
said she sees it a bit differently. She added, war
as war, but life goes on. Ukraine's military is finding
it hard to recruit young men as the war with

(12:27):
Russia grinds on, but women all volunteers, are a bright spot.
The number of women serving has grown more than twenty
percent to about seventy thousand since Russia's invasion in twenty
twenty two. Those who become pregnant often serve in tough conditions,
under relentless shelling, living without heat in the winter, or
running water, improper toilets. It's terrifying every single day, said Nadia,

(12:49):
twenty five, who served as a frontline radio operator until
she was eight and a half months pregnant. You wake
up wondering if everything is okay, if everyone is still alive,
she said, describing how every morning she would brush plaster
off her bed that had fallen from the ceiling after
a night of explosions. Pregnancy, she said, made it even
more difficult. The clinic where she would get ultrasounds closed,

(13:11):
so did many nearby hospitals. You're constantly thinking about your
child's well being, said Nadia. Who gave birth to a boy,
Yaroslav in February. It was non stop stress every day,
combined with constant physical activity. While the U. S Army
and many other militaries remove pregnant soldiers from combat zones,
Ukrainian women usually serve until their seventh month, and that

(13:33):
is in a military that doctors and soldiers say is
ill equipped to support them, from uniforms that don't fit
pregnant women, to a lack of prenatal care and nurseries
amid the costs and challenges of fighting the war. Despite
the hardships, many pregnant soldiers say they understand the military
has more pressing priorities and that they are motivated to
serve for the future of Ukraine and their children. Al

(13:56):
chidren are children of the future of this country, said
Olya thirty nine, a combat medic in Eastern Ukraine who
gave birth to a girl in May. We have to
protect our children and we have to liberate the country
for their future. Once they give birth, women also face
wretching decisions about how long to stay home with their
babies or whether to return to a military that desperately

(14:16):
needs them. Nadia said that after her baby was born.
She was allowed one hundred and twenty six days of
paid leave if she wanted to return to the front. Otherwise,
she could take off three years unpaid. How can I
leave him, she said, she wondered before deciding to take
the three years with the intention of returning to service
After that, Valentina cut short her maternity leave to return

(14:39):
to service in the military. Since twenty nineteen, she had
worked as an infantry mechanic before the full scale invasion,
an unusual role for a woman. I wanted to challenge
society by saying that a woman in a complex combat
position can perform her duties on an equal footing with
a man. Valentina said she had initially been hesitant to
return to service after giving birth in late twenty twenty one,

(15:03):
worried that a military salary would not support her family.
The Russian invasion changed everything, she said. Sometimes you have
to make difficult decisions to make things better. She said.
Finding a unit to accept her back wasn't easy, Valentina said,
partly because of the sexism that experts say is pervasive
in the Ukrainian military. Several turned her down, including one

(15:24):
whose commander said she should stay home with her baby.
She did not get approval until August twenty twenty three,
when her son was eighteen months old. Major Victoria Kravchenko
has served in Ukraine's military for over sixteen years and
as a psychologist who has researched the issue of sexism
in the armed forces. She said women who get pregnant
can face considerable barriers, like commanders who question their decision

(15:47):
to return to the fight after having babies or their
fitness to serve. It's no secret that gender bias exists.
Major Krabchenko said as her daughter chewed a mango slice
in her arms at their home in Kiev winter. She
added that financial concerns were also a challenge. In Ukraine.
The military covers one hundred and twenty six days of

(16:08):
maternity league. After that, the state provides about one hundred
and seventy dollars a month for the child. A number
of private entities are helping out. One group, Zamalachki, makes
and sends maternity uniforms to serving soldiers. Kvitna, a non profit,
provides free women's health care from a mobile clinic. There
was an urgent need, said Terrace Yeftrami, as gynecologist with Kavitna.

(16:33):
On one recent rotation. He said the mobile clinic screened
five hundred and seventy three and female soldiers five were pregnant.
The Ukrainian military did not respond to questions about how
many women were pregnant or had given birth in the ranks,
or about pre natal care for soldiers. Doctor Vita Marchenko,
sixty two, has cared for pregnant soldiers at her hospital

(16:54):
and Slovenesque Eastern Ukraine. It lacks the staff and equipment
for advanced testing, but can deal of her babies. I
never thought we would have so many women at war,
doctor Marchenko said a female soldier's pregnancy only differs from
a civilian's than that it provides more purpose. Doctor Marchenko
said they are reminded what they are fighting for. Olia

(17:16):
and the senior combat medica in Eastern Ukraine said she
was surprised to find out she was pregnant last September.
I did not plan to get pregnant when I went
to war. I wanted to fight until victory. She said.
She initially kept her pregnancy a secret, fearful she might
get reassigned, but when bleeding landed her in the hospital
for a week, in December, Olia had to inform her commander.

(17:37):
Doctors advised her to take it easy. According to Olia,
she said that that was hard to do as she
was the only medic in her company and the guys
still need medical help. Her commander made some adjustments and
Ola stopped going into combat positions. Still, war was all
around her. For the duration of her pregnancy, Olia said
she talked to her unborn baby to tell her what

(17:57):
was going on around them, and to tell her that
she loved her and that they were going to be okay,
and that they were doing an important task. She bristled
at the suggestion that some might question her priorities. I
am ready to assume responsibility. That I am here the
combat zone with my child, I do everything to protect her,
Olya said, I have to stay and help here. In

(18:17):
late May, she gave birth to her baby girl, Ranya.
While Olya has officially quit the military, she plans to
re enlist in a year or so. We have very
few people left with necessary level of experience and professionalism,
she said, and this is a long game, so we
are needed. The next article from the front page of
today's edition is entitled doge put critical social security data

(18:41):
at risk, whistleblower says by Nicholas Nahamas, members of the
Department of Government Efficiency uploaded a copy of a crucial
social security database in June to a vulnerable cloud server,
putting the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans
at risk of being leaked or hacked. According to a
whistleblower complaint filed by the Social Security Administration's chief data officer,

(19:05):
the database contains records of all Social Security members issued
by the federal government. It includes individuals full names, addresses,
and birth dates, among other details that could be used
to steal their identities, making one of the nation's most
sensitive repositories of personal information. The account by the whistle blower,
James Bourges sorry Charles Bourges, underscores concerns that have led

(19:29):
to lawsuits seeking to block young software engineers at the
agency built by a lawn musk, from having access to
confidential government data. In his complaint, mister Borges said DOGE
members copied the data to an internal agency server that
only DOGE could access, foregoing the type of independent security
monitoring normally required under agency policy for such sensitive data,

(19:51):
and creating enormous vulnerabilities. Mister Boyges did not indicate that
the database had been breached or used inappropriately, but his
DISCO closure stated that as of late June, no verified
audit or oversight mechanisms existed to monitor what DOGE was
using the data for or whether it was being shared
outside the agency. That kind of oversight would typically be

(20:12):
provided by the agency's career information security professionals. Mister Borges
said in his account and his complete sites an official
agency security assessment to described the project as high risk
and that warned of catastrophic impact social security beneficiaries and
programs if the database were to be compromised. Should bad

(20:33):
actors gain access to this cloud environment, Americans may be
susceptible to widespread identity theft, may lose vital health care
and food benefits, and the government may be responsible for
re issuing every American a new Social Security number at
great cost. Mister Borges's complaint said he alleged that Doughes
did not involve him in discussions about the project despite

(20:54):
his role as chief data officer, leaving him to piece
together evidence of what had happened after the fact. Included
in his account, a copy of which was reviewed by
the New York Times are more than two dozen pages
of internal emails, memos, and other records to document his claims.
Mister Borges's complaint said that doje's actions potentially violated multiple

(21:15):
federal statutes designed to protect government data. Lawyers at the
Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection group, filed mister Borges's
account on Tuesday with the Office of Special Counsel, as
well as with congressional lawmakers. Mister Borges's forty nine joined
the Social Security Administration in January after working for more

(21:36):
than three years at other government agencies, including the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, and serving twenty two years
in the Navy. According to his complaint, his lawyers declined
to make him available for an interview with The Times.
A spokesman for the Social Security Administration, Nick Peren, said
that the agency took whistleblower complaints seriously. SSA stores all

(21:58):
personal data and secure environments that have robust safeguards in
place to protect vital information. He said the data referenced
in the complaint is stored in a long standing environment
used by SSA and walled off from the Internet. High
level career SSA officials have administrative access to this system
with oversight by SSA's information security team. Mister Prynn added

(22:21):
that the agency was not aware of any compromise to
this environment and remained dedicated to protecting sensitive personal data.
A White House spokesmoment referred questions to the Social Security Administration.
The complaint includes documents showing that DOGE leaders sought to
upload the data despite warnings that they could be exposing
Americans personal information. The documents did not reveal why DOES

(22:45):
pushed for the project, although mister Borges has said he
was later told that the reason was to improve the
way the agency exchanged data with other parts of the government.
I have determined the business need is higher than the
security risk associated with this implementation, and I accept all risks,
wrote Araman Mogadasi, who worked at two of mister Musk's
companies X and Neuralink before becoming Social Security's Chief information Officer,

(23:10):
in a July fifteenth memo. Mister Mogadasi did not immediately
respond to a crest for combat. Doge's access to Social
Security data became one of the earliest flashpoints in mister
Musk's intentious spell in Washington. The billionaire and his allies
pushed for DOZE to have unfettered access to the agency's data,

(23:31):
which is strictly protected under federal law, ousting career officials
who stood in their way. Mister Musk advanced false claims
of widespread fraud at Social Security to justify the urgency
of doe's work. Privacy advocates and Democrats warned that the
confidentiality of American's personal information might be a risk. Social

(23:51):
security data is highly sought after by criminals and foreign governments,
who can use the information for identity theft or to
gather intelligence. A federal judge temporarily blocked doje's access to
sensitive social security data in March, but the Supreme Court
overruled at the decision that decision on June sixth. The
agency has also shared data with immigration authorities as President

(24:14):
Trump seeks to carry out his mass deportation agenda. Although
mister Musk and many of his allies left Washington after
the billionaire fallout with mister Trump in May, members of
DOGE have continued to occupy key roles in the federal bureaucracy,
including mister Mogadasi. At issue in mister Borges's complaint is
the so called nubident file, a critical database that contains

(24:37):
the personal information of everyone who has ever held a
Social Security number, living or dead. The agency has issued
more than five hundred and forty eight million numbers. In
his complaint, mister Borges has provided documents showing that DOGE
member John Sally, a software engineer working at Social Security,
called a career agency employee on June tenth to open

(24:58):
discussions about copying new data to a virtual private cloud
server operated by Social Security. Edward Coorstein, a nineteen year
old Doughe software engineer, was also involved in the project
and would be given access to the server. Other record
show the request came shortly after the Supreme Court allowed
members of DOGE to have access to the agency's data.

(25:20):
Mister Salling and mister Correstein did not immediately respond to
request for comment. At least one senior official soon began
raising concerns, according to documents disclosed in mister Borges's complaint,
On June sixteenth, Joe Cunningham, the agency's acting Chief Information
security officer, emailed mister Mogadossi and another top official attaching

(25:41):
a copy of an official risk assessment. After a thorough review,
we have determined that this request poses a high risk,
mister Cunningham wrote, adding that our current policy requires sign
off from the Chief Information Officer CIO to accept these risks.
The risk assessment stated that DOGE wanted uninhibited control over
the server to exped it its work, but had not

(26:03):
provided documentation of how it would maintain security, and it
warned that sensitive data could be made public, according to
a copy included in mister Borge's complaint. In another email
to colleagues on June twenty third, mister Cunningham wrote, we
need to address how we can effectively monitor the data
and the security controls that will be implemented. Two days later,

(26:25):
he asked miss Michael Russo, as senior DOGE alleged a
line official at Social Security, to sign off on the project,
noting that the personal data being uploaded had not been
sanitized or anonymised, as he suggested would typically be the case. Approved,
Mister Russo replied. Less than half an hour later, another
Social Security employee wrote that a colleague would be transferring

(26:47):
a copy of the new Midant data over shortly. Mister
Russo declined to comment mister Conningham did not immediately respond.
Mister Borges's a complaint stated that he was kept in
the dark about copying the new mindant day data and
that his superiors did not address his concerns when he
raised them this month. And he said that after he
started asking questions about the project, the agency's Office of

(27:09):
the General Council to employees not to respond to his inquiries.
Mister Borges has spent weeks pressing for fixes inside the agency.
Andrea Mesa, a lawyer with the Government Accountability Projects, set
in a statement when nothing changed, he used the protected
channel's federal whistleblower's law provides. Mister Borges's complaint also includes

(27:31):
documents that he said backed up two additional allegations. He
said that in March, DOZE officials bypassed normal security procedures
and were given improper and excessive access to other databases
that contained sensitive information about social security applicants, including the
ability to edit data. Mister Borges also said that DOES
officials briefly appeared to have circumvented the March twentieth temporary

(27:54):
court order that locked them out of social security data,
regaining access to the data over the following weekend before
being cut off again are March twenty fourth. The next
article from the front page of today's edition is entitled
The Deadly Risks of Reporting in Gaza by Aaron Boxerman.

(28:17):
The Israeli strikes that killed five journalists in a Gaza
hospital on Monday, with the latest episode in what has
been an incredibly deadly conflict. For Palestinian journalists, who have
often served as the world's on the ground witnesses to
Israel's campaign, It's reached the point where I'm scared to report,
Saidjevera al Safadi, a photographer who works with Al Koifia,
a Palestinian broadcaster. Such fears and the deadly risks of

(28:41):
reporting in Gaza could further stifle the amount of information
coming out of the war. Israel has barred international journalists
from freeing and from freely entering Gaza to cover the war,
and has killed some Palestinian reporters that claimed were members
of Hamas or other militant groups. More than one hundred
and ninety media workers, the great majority of them Palestinian,

(29:01):
have been killed since the war began in October twenty
twenty three. According to the Committee to Protect journalists. The
episode on Monday began after Israel first struck Nassar Hospital
in southern Gaza, hitting one of the journalists, said Abdullah
alt Attar, a freelance journalist who was present. As other
reporters and emergency medical workers rushed to the scene, Israeli

(29:23):
forces struck again, killing a total of twenty people and
wounding several others. Health officials said mister Allatar's account was
corroborated by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Five of those
killeds were journalists who had worked as contractor for the
Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and Middle East Eye. The

(29:44):
Israeli military named six other people it said were militants
killed in the attack. The strikes were intended to hit
a camera and that Israeli troops believed was tracking them.
The military said. The conflict has been exceptionally deadly for
Gozins as a whole. More than sixty thousand people, including
thousands of children and other non combatants, have been killed,
according to local health officials. The war began after Hamas

(30:07):
attacked Israel on October seventh, twenty twenty three, killing about
twelve hundred people, mostly civilians, and seizing around two hundred
and fifty hostages. Alongside its military campaign in Gaza, the
Israeli government has waged a relentless battle to control the
narrative about the fighting. In addition to only allowing international
journalists who are accompanied by the military indo Gaza, it

(30:29):
has disputed the motives and objectivity of many Palestinian reporters
working inside the enclave, arguing they are under Hamas's thumb.
Hamas ruled Gaza with an iron fist after seizing control
of the enclave in two thousand and seven. Human rights
groups say the armed group frequently arrested its critics, as
well as brewdly cracking down on demonstrations against its rule.

(30:51):
Tassin al Astal, the Gaza based deputy head of the
Palestinian Journalist Union, agreed that Hamas had clamped down on
freedom of the press, but he added that Israel's actions
were aimed at allowing it to promote its version of
events without restraint. Israel doesn't want the world to see
the magnitude of what's happening here, said mister Alastahal asked

(31:12):
for comment on the rationale behind the ban on allowing
international media to freely report in Gaza. Nadav Shoshani and
Israeli military spokesman said it was security related. He did
not respond to request for more details. Like almost every
other Gaza, Palestinian reporters have been forced to repeatedly flee
for their lives and have struggled to provide food for

(31:34):
their families amid widespread shortages and hunger. At times, they
have also had to report on the deaths of friends, colleagues,
and loved ones. They are subject to the same kind
of horrific deprivation that the rest of the Gazan population
is subject to, said Jodie Ginsburg, the head of the
Committee to Protect Journalists. They are constantly displaced. They are
working from the housing that is extremely precarious. Unlike journalists

(31:58):
reporting from other combat zone, Palestinian reporters in Gaza cannot
leave the front lines to rest and recover. Israel and
Egypt let almost no one out of the enclave except
for aid workers, dual nationals, and the severely sick or wounded.
When I am working in the military orders us to evacuate,
I have to scramble to find us a new place
to live. Mister Sefidi said, you're working as a journalist,

(32:21):
but you also have to support your displaced family. Mister
al Safadi has himself been caught in the crossfire in
late July, and Israeli airstrike hid a nearby home in
the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City, wounding him and
his young daughter with sharp shrapnel. He said, there's a
lot of fear and there's no protection. He added, at times,

(32:42):
the Israeli military has also deliberately attacked and killed Palestinian
reporters it claimed belonged to Hamas's armed wing, the Al
Ca Som Brigades. Several were employees of Al Jazeira, the
Katari owned broadcaster, which called the allegations baseless. One of
them was Anasa al Sharif twenty eight, a reporter for
Al Jazeera who had become a familiar face to people

(33:04):
across the Arab world as one of the last journalists
in northern Gaza, much of which has been raised by
Israeli forces. Mister als Sharif contributed to a Pulitzer Prize
winning set of photos submitted by Reuters in twenty twenty
four for coverage of the Israel Hamas war. Earlier this month,
the Israeli military struck a tent housing Al Jazeera journalists

(33:26):
in Gaza City, killing mister al Sharif. In a statement,
the military said mister Alsherif had belonged to the Quassan Brigades,
Hamas's armed wing, a charge rejected by mister Alsherif and
algerism Jazeera months ago. Israel never accused the other three
Al Jazeera journalists and two freelancers killed alongside mister Alsharif

(33:49):
of having ties to militants, nor did the Israelian military
explain why it had decided to attack mister Ausreif on
that day, months after it had accused him of Hamas membership.
Israeli officials frequently accused Al Jazeera of glorifying Hamas and
regurgitating the group's preferred narrative. Since the war in Gaza began,
Israel has banned the Channel for operating in its sovereign

(34:11):
territory and has shuddered its offices in the West Bank.
In the case of mister Alsherief, the Israeli military said
its name had appeared in at least three internal Hamas
directories listing members of the Kasam Brigades. None of the
documents could be independently verified, and the most recent wealness
from twenty twenty three. Mister Alsherif occasionally wrote social media

(34:33):
posts supportive of Hamas, including the October seventh attacks. In
one telegram post from October twenty twenty three, mister Alsherif
uploaded an image of someone pressing his shoe onto the
face of a man in Israeli military uniform. Whenever morale
gets low, remember that we stomped on their heads in
the middle of their military bases, mister Alsherif wrote. Some

(34:56):
Palestinians also had reservations about mister Alsherief's cover, which they
said echoed Hamas's talking points. When protests against Hamas erupted
in Northern Gaza earlier this year, Al Jazeera initially ignored them.
Rallies in Northern Gaza are calling for an end to
the war in the genocide, mister Alcherif reported at the time,
without mentioning the demonstrations and anti hamask slogans. Like some

(35:21):
other colleagues at Al Jazeera, mister Alscherif also appeared to
have a good working relationship with the Cassam Brigades, though
that alone does not make him a member of the
group or a combatant. In his broadcasts, he referred to
them as resistance fighters, voicing support for an armed group. However,
would not on its own make alcherif a legitimate target,

(35:41):
said miss Ginsburg, the journalist rights activists. If his crime
is that he supported Hamas, that does not make you
a combatant, and it doesn't justify his killing, miss Ginsberg said.
The next article from the front page of today's edition
is entitled how North Korea promotes Kim's dear daughter as

(36:01):
a worthy heir by Pablo Robas and Chloe sang Home.
Kim Jong unn introduced his daughter to the world in
November twenty twenty two with a show of affection and menace,
holding her hand in front of an intracontinental ballistic missile.
Since then, state media has shown Kim june I more

(36:22):
and more prominently next to her father, the leader of
North Korea. Now she is being hailed as a great
person of guidance. A sign expert say that she is
perhaps being groomed to take the reins of the isolated,
nuclear armed regime one day. She holds no known official
title in North Korea. The outside world has never heard
her voice. The North state media has not even named her,

(36:44):
referring to her only as the most beloved and respected
or dear daughter of its leader, but intelligence officials and
analysts in South Korea are paying close attention to the
young woman, whom may consider to be her father's most
likely successor. She is believed to be just twelve. The
New York Times analyzed hundreds of images and videos of
Juai's public appearances since her debut three years ago to

(37:07):
trace her transformation from a shy girl by her father's
side to a poise public figure who shares center stage
with him. Some analysts say she has largely replaced her mother,
mister Kim's wife. We saw Jeu in the role of
first lady. North Korea has been ruled by the Kim
family since its founding at the end of World War II,
make it the only dynasty in the communist world. South

(37:30):
Korean intelligence officials believe that mister Kim most likely has
two children. There have also been unconfirmed reports that he
might have a third child, possibly a son older than Jui,
but Juai is the only child who has made public appearances.
If she is her father's designated the successor, she would
be in line to become the first woman to rule
North Korea's deeply patriarchal and highly militarized society and the

(37:52):
world's newest nuclear power. Mister Kim is only forty one,
but with a family history of heart trouble, preparing a
success for her successor makes sense. Here is a look
at Juaye's rise. Juey has undergone a striking transformation in
North Korea's tightly choreographed state media. Intelligence officials and analysts

(38:13):
in South Korea caution against firm conclusions about her future role,
but as her profile has risen, she has eclipsed her
mother and mister Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jang, also
once considered a potential success for as the main female
face of the ruling family. In Ju Yan's first public appearance,
she stood behind with her mother as mister Kim talked

(38:35):
to military officials at a missile test. Three months later,
she attended a state banquet celebrating the fifty seventh sorry
the seventy fifth anniversary of the Korean Publics the Korean
People's Army with her parents. She is often portrayed as
a loving daughter and a happy family when she took
in a military parade. She stood on the podium behind
her father alongside her mother, but over time she made

(38:57):
her way to the front row. Then, in November twenty
twenty three, State media carried a photograph featuring Jui front
and center, with mister Kim taking a background spot. It
spoke volumes about her status. Mister Kim had never been
before been relegated to a secondary role, and a picture
like this would not have been published without his permission,
analysts say. In March twenty twenty four, she took a

(39:21):
more active role in military settings. That same month, she
joined her father to inspect the Gangdong Greenhouse agricultural complex,
part of a series of events meant to highlight domestic achievements.
Only months later, mister Kim's sister was on hand to
usher her niece onto the podium at a state ceremony.
Mister Kim also nudged his daughter forward to greet the

(39:42):
Ushan ambassador, signaling her growing diplomatic role. This year, Jui
received foreign dignitaries with mister Kim. She was mentioned before
her father's top aides when State media reported the list
of notables who attended government events. When mister Kim and
his daughter visited the Greenhouse complex. State media called them

(40:02):
great persons of guidance and honorific that over the years
has been reserved for only North Korea's top leader and
his designated successor. North Korea has also began issuing postage
stamps bearing the images of father and daughter together. In
North Korea, where officials and people are not really too
ready to accept a female leader, Kim Jong un is

(40:24):
making his daughter's success her status a fate a complete
by repeatedly exposing her through state media, said Xiang Xiong Chang,
an analyst of the Sejong Institute in Seul who has
written books on mister Kim and his family. Ju Ey's
birth and name were first revealed to the outside world
by the retired MBA star Dennis Rodman, who met the

(40:45):
Kim family during a visit to North Korea in twenty thirteen.
When she made her first public appearance in twenty twenty
two in a white, padded winter jacket, ju I looked
no different from the other children of the elites in Poyangyang,
but as she has grown, her c have become more
formal and she has been transformed into a figure of authority,
where wardrobe now inches tailored leather coats with fur collars

(41:08):
and two piece designer suits. As her mother has receded
from public view, Juei has begun to adopt her sense
of fashion. Her mannerisms and demeanor have also changed. Even
something as small as how she collapsed looks different now
than two years ago. The child who first appeared as
a family curiosity is now a polished, rehearsed figure woven

(41:28):
into North Korea's ongoing story of dynastic power, said Donald Southerton,
the author of Korea One O one Each, Photo, Parade,
Walk and Salute. I see as a carefully staged story
of succession, legitimacy, and continuity for the Kim dynasty. Should
a brother emerge, Jui mayen ob serving as a mere placeholder,

(41:49):
said Kanan dong Yuan, an expert on North Korea at
dong A University in South Korea. For now, though her
prominent portrayal is sending a message to North Koreans that
the Kim family rule will continue into a fourth generation.
Mister Kim chose the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile
or ICBM for his daughter's public debut in November twenty

(42:11):
twenty two. Since that day, he has taken her to
other nuclear related sites, introducing her to officials involved in
North Korea's weapons programs. He has lauded the arsenal as
a major legacy of the family rule. When mister King
himself was being groomed to succeed his father, he first
established his authority with the military the key to maintaining power.

(42:32):
Now by taking ju I to military events, mister Kim
has been showing her how he handles the top brass.
He has also offered senior military officials opportunities to meet
and show loyalty to her annals set three months after
her first appearance, she attended a military parade, walking with
her parents and followed by the top brass. At a

(42:53):
later parade, a top general was seen kneeling before her,
a gesture of deference that had once been reserved for
her father. She visited members of the first Air Force Division,
signaling her presence across all branches of the military. Soon after,
she appeared an official portrait with her father and the
top military leadership, and this year she attended the launch

(43:14):
of the kang Kam where of the North Korea's Navy's
news destroyers standing near her father and top officials. By
preparing a success republicly from an early age, mister Kim
maybe trying to avoid the mistake his father made. Analysts
say it was not until after his father had a
stroke in two thousand and eight that mister Kim was
unveiled as the heir apparent. That led to an uncertainty

(43:36):
about the younger mister Kim. In his early years, he
faced skepticism from outside analysts who dismissed him as an
inexperienced leader and argued that he would not last long.
That was before mister Kim exceeded his executed His uncle,
had his half brother assassinated by his agents in Malaysia,
and purged several top generals to establish his unchallenged authority. Now,

(43:59):
it is primary early mister Kim's health, not his hold
on power, that is in question. He has about five
feet seven inches and weighs about three hundred and ten pounds,
according to South Korean intelligence officials. They added that he
had unhealthy habits, including chain smoking, heavy wining and dining,
and frequently staying up into the early morning to serve
the internet, where he likes to browse weapons sites. Mister

(44:22):
Kim is believed to have cardiovascular issues, which contributed to
the deaths of both his father and grandfather. One advantage
to crooming a successor early, even a young child, his
leverage against his American and South Korean adversaries, said Sung
Yung Lee, the author of The Sister North curatist Kim
Yojang the most dangerous woman in the world. It tells

(44:44):
them we have all the time in the world while
you are bound by term limits of four to five years,
mister Lee said. The next article from the front page
of today's edition is entitled The Real Reason Americans Worry
about Trade by Peter S. Goodman. In the stories Americans
tell about the decimation of middle class life, international trade

(45:07):
tends to get a prominent role. Anger over joblessness in
diminishing fortunes and factory towns help propel Donald J. Trump
to the White House. Yet a look at the sources
of American distress reveals another factor. A far less comprehensive
social safety net than in the rest of the developed world.
That defining feature of the American economy has left workers

(45:28):
in uniquely vulnerable to the pitfalls of joblessness. The stakes
have grown as trade has expanded. That reality emerges from
up the comparison of layoffs in the United States with
the experience in other countries. This is the story of
two women who lost jobs, one in Ohio, the other
in Sweden, and what happened next. In Lordstown, Ohio, the

(45:49):
calamity unfolded just before Thanksgiving in twenty eighteen. General Motors
was shifting production to Mexico from the local auto factory
where Melinda Minor had worked for seventeen years. The wages
she and her husband earned thirty three dollars an hour,
had paid the mortgage on the house where they raised
their three sons. Their healthcare had covered the insulin pumps
and frequent doctor's visits that she required to manage her diabetes.

(46:13):
I was frustrated and furious that those jobs were going
to another country, missus Minor, forty said, and said, I
was terrified. I don't know what it's like in other countries,
but here, if you lose your job, you're out of luck.
In northern Sweden, Josephine Soderbergh was also consumed by fear
as she absorbed similar news. Last year, she was working
at Northbold, the largest electric vehicle battery manufacturer in Europe.

(46:37):
The companies des sent into bankruptcy in part because of
difficulty competing with China, eliminated Miss Soderbergh's job in some
four thousand others, yet almost immediately, Miss Soderbergh, thirty, took
comfort from a level of support not offered to missus minor.
In Sweden, as in most of the wealthy world, the
government runs a national health system. A job coach helped

(46:57):
her under a program that Swedish Employer's Fund. She recently
started her own business, making and selling her art. If
we didn't have free healthcare, I couldn't have done this.
Miss Soderbergh said, I don't have to be scared of
getting sick or something because I can count on the system.
Those contrasting outcomes illustrate why large numbers of American workers
see trade as a threat to their livelihoods. There is

(47:20):
a sense of economics insecurity that goes beyond the shifting
of factory work overseas. Nobody goes to Walmart and says, well,
I'm just outraged look at all this stuff that is
made elsewhere, said Mark Blythe, a political economist at Brown University.
Your backlash to trade is my town sucks because everyone
lost their job and all the cafes are shut down,

(47:41):
and the school now sucks because it's funded on local taxes.
Six months after a job loss, an American family of four,
two parents and two children typically receives unemployment benefits amounting
to thirty six percent of the family's previous income. According
to data compiled by the Organization for Economic cup Cooperation
and Development, or OECD. In Sweden, the same family would

(48:04):
gain benefits that are almost double the American share, seventy
percent of its previous income, and that does not include
the value of healthcare or university and tuition. A similar
share sixty nine percent, would flow to the same family
living in countries within the OECD, a group that includes
South Korea and Columbia. Americans are, for understandable reasons, especially

(48:26):
disturbed by layoffs, and that helps explain not just hostility
towards trade, but also labor opposition to the deployment of
new technology such as electric vehicles and automation at ports.
Government programs dating back to the middle of the last
century have promised to aid workers whose jobs are undone
by trade and technology. But Congress has often withheld funding.

(48:48):
We talk about helping workers, and we don't do it,
said Howard Rosen, a labor economist who served as an
advisor to the Joint Economic Committee in Congress in the
nineteen nineties. In Europe, they don't talk about it, they
just do it. In the American imagination, Sweden tended to
conjure images of a socialist nanny state in contrast to
the ruthless form of capitalism that prevailed at home. Yet

(49:11):
those who run Sweden's job transition programs say they are
intended to make companies more competitive by giving them greater flexibility.
Ninety percent of businesses there pay zero point four per
six point four to six percent of wages into a
fund their finance. As such programs, they include skills training
and job coaches, who help workers who have lost their

(49:31):
job to navigate the unemployment system. The employers voluntarily participate
because of what they receive, the power to hire and
fire in pursuit of greater profit. When workers can count
on a safety net, employers can deploy robots and abandon
struggling ventures free of blowback. This was the source of
miss Soderberg's sense of assurance after Northfolk's collapse. The company

(49:53):
was started by two former Tesla executives, using ten billion
dollars raised from major investors, among them Goldman, Sachs and Volkswagen.
They constructed a complex of factories just outside Skelephia, a
city of seventy eight thousand, less than two hundred miles
south of the Arctic circle. Miss Soderberg worked there for

(50:14):
two years. She brought home twenty eight thousand Swedish croner
a month, nearly three thousand dollars, and sometimes as much
as forty thousand over time after overtime. This was roughly
double her earnings in her previous jobs working the counter
at a candy store and assisting adults with disabilities. The
work filled with her with a sense of mission. She

(50:35):
worried about climate change, nor felt like a patent potent response.
The operation was so huge that a network of shuttle
buses varied workers from building to buildings so they would
not have to venture into winter temperatures that sometimes dipped
to minus thirty degrees fahrenheit. It was like its own city.
Miss Sutterbergh said, it felt like we were part of
something important, part of history. Yet from inception, the plan

(50:58):
struggled save former workers and union representatives. Pressure to expand
was relentless. Everyone grasped, but Europe was racing to compete
with lower cost batteries produced in China. As the factory
failed to make quality products, automakers canceled orders. I thought
this is too big to shut down. Miss Soderbergh said,
it was impossible that it would end this way. Yet suddenly,

(51:20):
on a day she wasn't scheduled to work, her phone
buzzed with a text summoning her to the factory. A
woman she had never met abruptly delivered the news she
would receive one month of severance pay. She went home
shell shocked. Then she received a call from her newly
assigned job coach, Anna Karen Ferukskott. They met in person
at her office. Miss Ferrukskog fifty four exuded warmth and kindness,

(51:43):
and she pointed Lee urged her client to take her
time in plotting her next career move. You are sad
or may be afraid, she said, But if you can
turn that around and say, Okay, this is not the end,
this is the beginning of something new, I can do
whatever I want and must discover it. You can see
what is possible to the American ear The idea that
joblessness that could be a portal to self discovery may

(52:05):
prompt dismissal as positive thinking shtick. In places like Ohio,
laid off workers are too worried about securing health care
to contemplate their inner selves. Miss Ferrix Gog's counsel was
supported by the reality that everyone has health care. Miss
Soderbergh told her that she had found contentment in nature.
Miss Fericks Gog encouraged her to consider a career in

(52:25):
forestry management. She would go back to school to get
a degree, but then Miss Sutterburgh found herself drawn to
a running her own business. She went into the woods
and conjured oil paintings of wild flowers and animals moves deer, caribou.
She discovered that artists were finding success using social media
to connect with audiences while selling their works online. She

(52:46):
enrolled in a class at the State Employment Office that
instructed her in how to run a small business. She
got a six month extension of her unemployment benefits under
a plan for people starting their own companies. She battled
nervousness about her finances, but took satisfaction from making a
living in a way that felt meaningful. A California start
up recently bought the Northfolk plant and intends to resume production.

(53:09):
Miss Soderbergh has no plans to return, but she sees
the factory as a backup option of her business vaulters
in Lord's Town. Missus Miner had not seen it coming.
On her drive to work for a morning shift in
the fall of twenty eighteen. She was thinking about the
coming holiday, her parents, her husband's parents, and their siblings,
all crowding into their one level brick home for turkey

(53:29):
and football. She worked on the assembly line making Chevy
Cruise sedan's. Everyone knew the vehicle was being discontinued, yet
all were hopeful that the factory would be sustained by
a new model in the Chevy Blazer. But a few
hours into missus Miner's shift, plant manages abruptly halted the line.
A man speaking through a handheld microphone calmly explained how

(53:49):
her life was about to be turned upside down. General
Motors had operated the plant since nineteen sixty six, long
enough for more than sixteen million vehicles to be manufactured there.
The last day of operation would be four months away.
Some people cried, others shouted. Missus Minor was too stunned
to react. Her oldest son, a high school senior, was
headed to college the next year, and his tuition will

(54:11):
bill would have to be paid. On top of this,
her diabetes medications were not getting any cheaper. By the
end of her shift, GM had announced that it would
make the Blazer in Mexico, where autoworkers earned as little
as two dollars an hour. I've worked my whole life,
and I've worked my ass off, missus Minor said, you
thought you were going to retire at GM. The company
gave employees the option to keep their jobs by transferring

(54:33):
to another American plant, but that was a non starter
for Missus Minor her husband, Donnie. They were not going
to pull their three boys out of the local high school.
Her brother was ill and she was taking care of him.
Donnie's parents were aging, so they accepted the buyouts of
fifty thousand dollars each. They made a use of a
since discontinued government program called Trade Adjustment Assistance. They paid

(54:55):
their tuition to train them for new careers. Missus Miner
emerged with a certification to me maintained heating and air
conditioning systems. She got a job as a maintenance supervisor
at a residential treatment center for troubled youths. It paid
twenty one dollars an hour, a cut of more than
one third of her paycheck at GM. The worst part
was the change to her health care, a three thousand

(55:15):
dollars deductible and at twenty percent payments for all her medicine.
We were insurance broke, she said. When her husband needed
back surgery, they sought to enroll in Medicaid, the governmental
health care program for those with low incomes. Their income
was two hundred dollars over the annual limit to qualify. Then,
when her son enrolled at Kent State University, they learned

(55:36):
they had earned too much for him to gain cash grants.
You either have to be wealthy or poor, she said,
you can't be in the middle. Two years ago, missus
Miner got a job and a new electric vehicle battery
factory in Lordstown, a joint venture between GM and LG,
a South Korean conglomerate. The United Automobile Workers organized the plan,
bringing wages into its national contract. She now earns more

(55:59):
than her g Still she nurses an gnawing feeling if
having surrendered something more than money, her faith in the
American bargain. For what we lost, she said it did
not equal out. This concludes the reading of The New
York Times for today. Your reader for today has been
Chris Greco. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions

(56:20):
concerning this program, please feel free to call us at
eight five nine four two two six three nine zero.
Thank you for listening, and now please stay tuned for
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