8.29.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the reading of The New York Times for Friday,
August twenty ninth, twenty twenty five. As a reminder, RADIOI
is a reading service intended for people who are blind
or have other disabilities that makes it difficult to read
printed material. Your reader for today is Blanca Michael Ward.

(00:22):
We begin with Miriam Webster's word of the day, incisive,
incisive and adjective spelled I n C I S I vee.
What it means. Incisive means impressively direct and decisive. It

(00:42):
is generally applied to either something communicated in a way
that is very clear and direct, or to a person
who is able to explain difficult ideas clearly and confidently.
And confidently example, the columnist is known for her incisive
commentary on local politics. Miriam Webster's word of the day incisive.

(01:09):
We continue with the New York Times Combined print in
e book nonfiction Bestsellers in first place, two hundred fifty
seven weeks on the list. The Body Keeps the Score
by Busil Vanderkolk, How trauma affects the Body in Mind
and Innovative Treatments for Recovery in second place, seventy four

(01:31):
weeks on the list. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Hate,
a co author of the Coddling of the American Mind,
looks at the mental health impacts that a phone based
life has on children. In third place, six weeks on
the list. The Idaho Four by James Patterson and Vicky

(01:53):
Ward investigations into the murders of four University of Idaho
students on November thirteenth, twenty twenty two. In fourth place,
four weeks on the list. On Power by Mark R. Levin,
the Fox News host considers various facets of power and

(02:14):
its effect on history. In fifth place, eight weeks on
the list. Black a f History by Michael Harriet, a
columnist at Thegrio dot Com, articulates moments in American history
that center the perspectives and experiences of black Americans. We

(02:39):
continue with the New York Times bestsellers in combined print
in ebook fiction. In first place, nine weeks on the list.
Quicksilver by Calli Hart, Sarah's is transported to a dangerous
land of ice and snow, where she must contend with
a Faye warrior who who has suspect agendas. In second place,

(03:04):
Knew this week, the Sarrogate Mother by FRIEDA. McFadden, Abbey's
personal assistant who offers to be her surrogate also carries
an unspeakable secret. In third place, knew this week The
End of the World as We Know It by Christopher
Golden and Brian Keene, a short story anthology based on

(03:28):
Stephen King's nineteen seventy eight novel The Stand. In fourth place,
knew this week Love Arranged by Lauren Asher, the third
book in the Lake Front Billionaire series. Lily and Lorenzo's
fake relationship comes with baggage, and in fifth place, also

(03:51):
knew this week on Wings of Blood by Briar Bolin,
a dragon writer named Midra pendrickn is captured by vampires
and placed inside the dangerous Blood Wing Academy. We now
turn to today's headlines from the front page of the

(04:13):
New York Times. F DA limits who can get COVID vaccine.
Most people under sixty five won't have access news analysis.
Trump takes power quest to new level. Attack on federal
official likely to test justices. False arrest shows pitfalls a

(04:38):
facial recognition in New York case man didn't match victim's
bodily description. Church shooting kills two students, seventeen people hurt
at school's mass in Minneapolis. Money being poured into AI
is propping up real economy ra sexual violence with little

(05:02):
recourse shifting authorities in war torn Congo. We begin with
this story news analysis. Trump again escalates power grabs in
bid to fire FED member. This was written by Charlie Savage.

(05:24):
President Trump's bid to fire a member of the Federal
Reserve Board is a new escalation of his efforts to
amass more power over American government and society. Congress generations
ago structured the agency crucial to the health of the
economy to be independent of White House control. In purporting

(05:49):
to fire the board member, Lisa D. Cook, mister Trump
is setting up another test of how far the Republican
appointed supermajority on the Supreme Court will let him go
in eroding that checks and balance as Congress has long
imposed on executive power. M his attempt to fire missus

(06:10):
Cook presents a new twist. It raises the question of
whether he alone can decide whether there is cause to
fire an official at an independent agency whose leaders are
protected by law from arbitrary removal, or whether courts will
be willing and able to intervene if judges believe his

(06:32):
justification is a pretext. But the move to oust Miss cook,
whom the Senate confirmed for a term that ends in
twenty thirty eight, also fits into a now familiar arc,
joining the various ways mister Trump has systematically accumulated greater authority.

(06:53):
Mister Trump has stretched the bounds of some legal authorities,
like prolifically declaring emergencies to unlock more expensive power, sending
troops into the streets of American cities, unilaterally raising import taxes,
and blocking spending Congress had directed. In this case, he

(07:15):
is pushing at the limits of a statute that says
FED board members serve fourteen year terms unless removed for
cause by a president. Mister Trump has also openly weaponized
government power in ways that post Watergate norms had forbidden,
including directing the Justice Department to investigate perceived foes, in

(07:40):
this case, a loyalist he installed atop the Federal Housing
Finance Agency has scrutinized mortgage documents associated with various people
mister Trump does not like, apparently finding the discrepancy in
two loan applications Misscooks submitted in twenty twenty one, and

(08:05):
mister Trump has unabashedly violated statutes in which Congress set
limits on when various types of officials may be fired
while seeking ruling striking down those laws as unconstitutional constraints
on his powers. The restrictions apply to an array of officials,
including board members of other independent agencies, inspectors general, and

(08:31):
civil servants. But in telling miss Cook he was firing her,
mister Trump invoked a provision Congress wrote into the Federal
Reserve Act that says, for FAD board members may only
be removed before their terms are up for cause. He
said he had determined that sufficient cause existed to remove her.

(08:56):
That provision does not define what counts as a sufficient reason.
In general, such provisions have been understood to mean something
like significant misconduct or neglect of office. The move comes
as the Federal Reserve remains in mister Trump's crosshairs, with
the President pressuring the Central Bank to lower interest rates.

(09:21):
He has also repeatedly threatened to fire the FED Chairman,
Jerome H. Powell, citing cost overruns in its project to
renovate the headquarters. Minutes from the board's July meeting, which
were made public last week showed that the two Trump
appointees on the seventeen member board wanted to lower interest rates,

(09:44):
but the rest, including Miss Cook, thought they should be
held study among mixed economic data, including weakening job numbers
and a still elevated inflation rate. Congress enacted the law
forbidding presidents from firing FED Board members without cause, making
it an independent agency to shield it from political pressures.

(10:09):
The idea is to allow the Board to decide on
consequential matters like raising and lowering interest rates, based on
the long term health of the economy, not short term
political interests. The conservative legal movement, whose adherents now control
the Supreme Court, has long wanted to reinterpret the Constitution

(10:33):
to eliminate Congress's ability to restrain presidents seeking to fire
officials who exercise executive power, the so called unitary executive theory,
But even many conservatives have recoiled at the prospect of
ending the independence of the Federal Reserve. In a decision

(10:54):
in May allowing mister Trump to remove Democratic appointed members
of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit System's
Protection Board before their terms were up, members of the
Supreme Court's majority appeared to signal that they did not
want to mess with the fed's independence. The majority, noting

(11:17):
that the fired officials on those boards had argued that
allowing mister Trump to dismiss them without cause would undermine
similar laws protecting the independence of the FED, wrote, we disagree.
The opinion explained that the FED was different because it
is a uniquely structured, quasi private entity that followed from

(11:42):
a distinct historical tradition dating back to the country's first
national bank, which Congress established in seventeen ninety one. But
mister Trump is now moving against the Fed's independence anyway,
albeit in a slightly different way. On paper, at least,

(12:05):
mister Trump is purporting to fire miss Cook for a cause.
In a letter he posted to social media on Monday,
he cited allegations that in twenty twenty one, before she
became a member of the FED Board, she falsely called
two different properties her primary residence. That status allows someone

(12:26):
to secure better loan terms. The allegation was put forward
by a Trump loyalist leading the Federal Housing Finance Agency,
William J. Poult. He has also accused New York State
Attorney General Letitia James of similar misrepresentations on mortgage documents.

(12:47):
Miss James earlier one a civil fraud case against mister
Trump from manipulating the values of his properties to mislead
lenders and insurers. In a statement, Miss Cook's lawyer Abby
Lowell said mister Trump's move like any proper process basis
or legal authority, and vow to take whatever actions are

(13:11):
needed to prevent his attempted illegal action. And missus Cook
said she did not recognize mister Trump's effort to fire
her as legitimate and would continue to serve in her position.
President Trump purported to fire me for cause when no
cause exists under the law and he has no authority

(13:33):
to do so, she said in a statement, I will
not resign should a court room fight emerge. The case
appears likely to turn on two issues. First, whether what
counts a sufficient cause is up to the president alone
to design, or if courts can adjudicate whether the standard

(13:53):
has been met. If courts do declare, they have the
power to review whether there was suffici. The second issue
is whether they will reject mister Trump's move against Miss
Cook as a pretext, or whether they will say the
specific allegations in this instance are good enough to defer

(14:14):
to his view. In his letter, mister Trump appeared to
gesture toward the argument that his determinations cannot be second guest.
He cited the provision of the Federal Reserve Act that
says FED board members may only be removed for cause
by the President, but added a phrase not in the statue,

(14:37):
saying it was up to his discretion whether that standard
was meant. The Federal Reserve Act provides that you may
be removed at my discretion for cause, mister Trump wrote,
I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove
you from your position. We continue with this story. FDA

(15:03):
approves COVID shots with new restrictions. This was written by
Christina Jewett and J. C. Forton. The Food and Drug
Administration on Wednesday approved updated COVID vaccines for the fall
season and limited who can get the shots, the federal
government's most restrictive policy since the vaccines became available. The

(15:27):
agency authorized the vaccines for people who are sixty five
and older, who are known to be more vulnerable to
severe illness from COVID. Younger people would only be eligible
if they had at least one underlying medical condition that
would put them at risk for severe disease. Healthy children

(15:48):
under eighteen could still receive the shots if a medical
provider is consulted. People seeking the shots will soon face
another hurdle and inflame ruential Advisory Committee to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention must vote to recommend them,
but that panel's make up shifted when Health Secretary Robert F.

(16:12):
Kennedy Junior unseated existing members, reduced the panel size and
added some COVID vaccine opponents. This would mark the first
fall winter season that COVID shots were not widely recommended
to most people and children. Pitying federal health officials in

(16:33):
the Trump administration against several national medical groups that oppose
the restrictions, in a social media post, mister Kennedy said
the approvals accomplish the goals of keeping vaccines available to
people who want them and of demanding that companies conduct
placebo controlled trials. One new required study would examine POSTS

(17:00):
nineteen vaccination syndrome in patience, a condition that has been
noted in at least one small preliminary medical report but
is still a matter of pitch debate. The American people
demanded science, safety, and common sense mister Kennedy's post on
X said this framework delivers all three. Many public health

(17:24):
experts view the changes as part of mister Kennedy's broader
campaign against certain vaccines, especially his targeting of mRNA technology,
which has been used in the vast majority of shots
administered to Americans. They criticized his recent cancelation of five

(17:45):
hundred million dollars in grants to study flu and covid
vaccines as a move that would significantly set back the
nation's efforts to develop better therapies and leave the nation
reliant on older, slower approaches. Those efforts have been tempered
to some degree by the White House, where President Trump

(18:08):
remains proud of Operation Warp Speed, which was widely recognized
as an impress impressive feat of science, organization, and execution
to develop and deliver vaccines that help bring the pandemic
to an end. Operation Warp Speed, people say, is one

(18:29):
of the greatest achievements ever in politics or in the military,
because it was almost a military procedure, Mister Trump said
during a cabinet meeting Tuesday. The FDA's new limited approval
covers two vaccines designed with an m RNA that were
updated to target the LP eight dot one variant, which

(18:53):
represents nearly one third of recent cases. The Maduna vaccine
authorization covers those who are six months old and older
and have medical conditions, and all people over sixty five.
The Phiser shot was approved for the same group ages
five and older. The agency also approved the protein based

(19:18):
Novavax vaccine, which is matched to the omicron string j
N dot one, which the m RNA vaccines targeted last year.
The company said the shots continued to offer high levels
of antibodies. The FDA revoked emergency authorizations for the vaccines

(19:39):
in children, which would make the Pfiser shot unavailable for
children younger than five. Proponents of limiting eligibility say that
younger people are far less susceptible to severe illness, and
the rates of vaccine use have dropped in recent years
to about twenty three percent among all adults and to

(20:02):
thirteen percent of people younger than eighteen, according to the CDC.
A decision by the CDC's panel is expected within a month,
and it could greatly influence access to the shots at
drug store sites, which have become the most convenient places
to get them. Laws in a number of states including California, Pennsylvania, Florida,

(20:26):
and Massachusetts, require that pharmacy staff are only permitted to
administer vaccines recommended by the CDC, said Richard Hughes the Fourth,
a lawyer who represents vaccine makers. Along with the new
eligibility limits, pharmacists are raising concerns over their role in

(20:48):
an era of increasing vaccine restrictions. I'm hearing from pharmacists
who are fearful they might be in legal jeopardy for
providing vaccines. Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologists. We've
created this environment of fear for vaccine administration, and I'm

(21:10):
hearing a lot of that. Health insurers have so far
made few changes in coverage and have said they expect
to continue to support vaccination as a preventative measure, but
whether coverage will change because of the new restrictions remains unknown.
Medicaid coverage, which includes the Vaccines for Children program that

(21:32):
provides access to low income and working class families, generally
hues to the CDC recommendations. Mister Kennedy has upended decades
of vaccine policy at the CDC in recent months, replacing
infectious disease experts, with some members who have vehemently opposed

(21:53):
the mRNA COVID vaccines. Mister Kennedy, who spent nearly twenty
years work working as an anti vaccine activist before entering government,
also has the final say over the panel's recommendations. Sarah Roseick,
Senior vice president of Health and Wellness Strategy and Policy

(22:16):
for the National Association of Chained drug Stores, a trade group,
said her organization was carefully watching the CDC's next move,
given that about ninety percent of COVID shots were administered
in pharmacies in recent years. A CVS Health spokesman said

(22:37):
it has continued to offer eligible patients COVID vaccines, but
would review the new federal guidelines. The company also owns
the insurer ETNA, and said self funded employers could determine
what to cover depending on state and federal laws. For now,
CVS said pregnant women and children would be able to

(23:00):
get COVID shots. Walgreens did not respond to a request
for comment. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, whose plans
cover one in three Americans, set in a statement it
would monitor the federal guidelines on immunization. A number of
professional groups have already begun to issue advice that diverges

(23:24):
from recent changes under mister Kennedy's watch. In May, the
CDC dropped the recommendation that pregnant women received the COVID shots,
a move that could limit insurance coverage and availability at pharmacies.
The American College of Obstratitians and Gynecologists took a different stance,

(23:47):
advising women to get the COVID vaccine to protect themselves
and their infants, who cannot be immunized until they are
six months old. Large studies have found that vaccination reduce
uses the risk of maternal death or stillbirth during pregnancy.
It's really heartbreaking to see a person who's pregnant on

(24:09):
a ventilator, said doctor Brenna Hughes, a member of ACOG's
Immunization Infectious Disease in Public Health Preparedness Expert work group
who cared for patients at Duke University Medical Center during
the early waves of the pandemic. It was something like
I've never seen in my life, the number of people

(24:32):
I saw in the ICU who were pregnant and on
ventilators or even more severely ill, she said. And I
hope to never see anything like that again. The decision
to approve the vaccines with a requirement to study post
COVID nineteen vaccination syndrome struck doctor Jake Scott, and infectious

(24:53):
diseases specialist at Stanford Medicine as irresponsible. He said the
term was coined on the basis of a very small
study and it's not really clear if it even exists.
The risk really is that this post vaccination syndrome becomes
a catch all label for any persistent symptoms after vaccination,

(25:17):
he said, adding we could end up with a diagnosis
that doesn't actually help patients get the right treatment. Though
data collection has fallen off, reports of COVID deaths have
fallen sharply. In July, a month when case counts tend
to be low, the CDC reported roughly one hundred seventy

(25:38):
deaths a week this year. Last year, there were about
five hundred fifty to eight hundred fifty deaths a week
in July. Still, lawmakers in several states, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,
and Rhode Island have taken legislative steps to safeguard their

(25:59):
ability to provide vaccines regardless of federal policies and state
health officials in the Northeast and beyond met recently to
discuss paths forward in the case of altered federal vaccine policies.
Doctor Robbie Goldstein, the Massachusetts Health Commissioner and an infectious

(26:20):
diseases specialist, said his team was scouring state laws for
references to the CDC Committee to ensure that the state
could make vaccine policy based on other recommendations such as
a COO G or the American Academy of Pediatrics. We
are committed to using data and evidence, and we've seen

(26:43):
that the federal government, in particular Secretary Kennedy, has not
supported the use of data and has not been transparent
with the data that he is using to make decisions.
He said. Cases of COVID have ticked up in recent weeks,
particularly among children from newborns to age eleven. CDC data

(27:06):
show children made up the group with the highest rates
of COVID in emergency rooms, with three point five percent
of those from birth to age eleven testing positive in
recent weeks, ten times the rate in May. At the
University of California Los Angeles Emergency Medical Center. Overall cases

(27:29):
are up, but the majority of folks are not very sick,
except for those who are complicated by other medical issues
affecting immunity and respiratory health, said doctor Mark Morocco, a
clinical professor of emergency medicine. Traditionally, the FDA has issued
broad approvals to vaccines and passed baton to the CDC,

(27:54):
which convenes experts who issue recommendations on which groups should
receive the doses. Those teams tend to carefully weigh the
risk of the disease and any safety concerns that emerge
about the vaccine. FDA officials announced a new approach in
May narrowing access to COVID vaccines, which they described in

(28:18):
an essay in the medical journal Ney JM. Doctor Marty Mockery,
the agency's commissioner, and doctor Vernet Prosad, its vaccine chief,
said the benefits of repeated doses of COVID vaccines for
healthy people were uncertain and that the American people remained unconvinced.

(28:39):
To address the concern, they asked COVID vaccine makers to
study the vaccine in fifty to sixty four year olds,
with a focus on comparing symptomatic disease, severe illness, hospitalization,
and death to those who were given a placebo. In
the meantime, the COVID vaccines are restricted among those younger

(29:03):
than sixty five to people with one of a long
list of underlying conditions, including depression, obesity, diabetes, or physical inactivity.
The FDA also included pregnancy as a condition that elevates
the risk of severe disease. Mister Kennedy followed that news

(29:25):
with his own announcement, standing in for the CDC process,
ultimately leaving pregnant women off the vaccine schedule and concluding
that children could get it after a conversation with a
health care provider. The decision was widely penned by medical experts,
including doctor Paul Offittt, a vaccine expert and pediatrician. He

(29:50):
said that mister Kennedy's justification for restricting vaccines from pregnant women,
detailed in a letter to Congress, misrepresent medical studies and
would fail a tenth grade science class. Soon after, six
leading medical groups sued the Department of Health and Human Services,

(30:11):
saying the decision would result in preventable deaths, including the
unborn and newborns under six months old. The case is pending.
The shots will be welcomed in Galveston, Texas, where doctor
Janek Patel, an infectious disease in epidemiology specialist at the

(30:32):
University of Texas Medical Branch, said positive COVID tests reach
levels of about twenty five to thirty percent about six
weeks ago and remained high. Very old patients and those
with immunocompromise systems like cancer patients, have fared the worst.
He said. Many still forego vaccines. Hesitancy remains high, and

(30:57):
people think they can deal with COVID now without it,
doctor Patel said, but as you can tell, we have
big ways and we still have admissions and deaths. Next,
we have the story Trump, with tariffs and threats, tries

(31:24):
to strong arm nations to retreat on climate goals. This
was written by Lisa Friedman. President Trump is not only
working to stop and transition away from fossil fuels in
the United States, he is pressuring other countries to relax
their pledges to fight climate change and instead burn more oil, gas,

(31:49):
and coal. Mister Trump, who has joined with Republicans in
Congress to shred federal support for electric vehicles and for
solar and wind energy, is applying tariffs, lovies, and other
mechanisms of the world's biggest economy to induce other countries
to burn more fossil fuels. His animus is particularly focused

(32:13):
on the wind industry, which is a well established and
growing source of electricity in several European countries, as well
as in China and Brazil. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday,
mister Trump said he was trying to educate other nations.
I'm trying to have people learn about wind real fast,

(32:34):
and I think I've done a good job, but not
good enough because some countries are still trying, mister Trump said.
He said countries were destroying themselves with wind energy and
said I hope they get back to fossil fuels. Two
weeks ago, the administration promised to punish countries by applying tariffs,

(32:55):
visa restrictions, and port fees that vote for a global
agreement to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping sector.
Days later, in Geneva, the Trump administration joined Saudi Arabia
and other oil producing countries to oppose limits on the
production of petroleum based plastics, which have exploded in use

(33:19):
in recent years and are polluting waterways, harming wildlife, and
have even been detected in the human brain. Last month,
the Trump administration struck a trade deal with the European
Union in which it agreed to reduce some tariffs if
the block purchased seven hundred fifty billion dollars in American

(33:41):
oil and gas over three years. That deal has raised
concerns in some European countries because it would conflict with
plans to reduce the use of fossil fuels, the burning
of which is the main driver of climate change. They
are clearly using various tools in an attempt to increase

(34:02):
the use of fossil fuels around the world instead of decrease,
Jennifer Morgan, Germany's former Special Envoy for Climate action, said.
Also last month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that the
United States could pull out of the International Energy Agency

(34:22):
after the organization predicted that global oil demand would peak
this decade instead of continue to climb. Mister Wright told
Europeans in April that they faced a choice between the
freedom and sovereignty of abundant fossil fuels and the policies
of climate alarmism that would make them less prosperous. Taylor Rogers,

(34:47):
a White House spokeswoman said mister Trump's skull was restoring
America's energy dominance, ensuring energy independence to protect our national security,
and driving down costs for a mins American families and businesses,
and added the Trump administration will not jeopardize our country's

(35:07):
economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals. Energy
experts and European officials call the level of pressure mister
Trump is exerting on other countries worrisome. Last year, the
hottest on record, was the first calendar year in which

(35:27):
the global average temperature exceeded one point five degrees celsius
or two point seven degrees fahrenheit above pre industrial levels.
Along with that came deadly heat, severe drought, and devastating wildfires.
This year is on track to be the second or

(35:49):
third hottest on record, according to data from several agencies.
Scientists widely agree that to avoid worsening consequences of climate change,
countries need to rapidly transition away from oil, gas, and
coal to clean energy sources like wind, solar, geothermal power,

(36:11):
and hydropower. At this moment in time, it is absolutely
imperative that countries double down, triple down on their collaboration
in the face of the climate crisis to not allow
the active efforts for a fossil fuel world by the
Trump administration succeed. Miss Morgan said mister Trump routinely mocks

(36:35):
the established signs of climate change, and his administration has
issued a report written by five researchers who reject the
scientific consensus on climate change, arguing that hundreds of the
world's leading experts have overstated the risks of a warming planet.
The President also has made no secret of his disgust

(36:58):
for wind turbines and solar panels. Those disparagements don't end
at the water's edge. In July, mister Trump visited his
Turnbury golf resort in Scotland. Or fourteen years ago, he
tried unsuccessfully to stop construction of an offshore wind farm

(37:18):
that could be seen from another Trump golf resort in Aberdeen.
During that visit, mister Trump met with Ursula Vonderlin, the
president of the European Commission, to discuss trey. He denounced
wind power as a con job. Miss Vanderlyn sat expressionless
next to mister Trump during a news conference after their meeting,

(37:42):
as the President falsely claimed wind turbines drive birds Loco.
In a separate meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of
Britain that week, mister Trump called wind energy a disaster.
Wind accounts for about twenty percent of the electric mix
in Europe, and EU countries planned to increase that to

(38:04):
more than fifty percent by twenty fifty. Winn needs massive
subsidies and new are pain in Scotland and in UK
and in all over the place where they have them,
massive subsidies to have these ugly monsters all over the place,
mister Trump said in his meeting with mister Stormer. The

(38:25):
arm twisting goes far beyond mister Trump's actions during his
first term, some observers said, as he did in twenty seventeen,
Mister Trump in January withdrew the United States from the
Paris Agreement, a global pact among nearly two hundred countries
to fight climate change. But during the first term, mister

(38:47):
Trump primarily focused his energy policy on withdrawing the United
States from global discussions about climate change, while he promoted
domestic fossil fuel production. This time around, the administration is
actively trying to undermine countries on global warming, said David L. Goldwyn,

(39:09):
President of Goldwyn Global Strategies and Energy consulting firm. Several
diplomats from other countries said that the administration has used
increasingly aggressive tactics to influence international energy policies. In February,
mister Wright addressed a conference in London via video and

(39:32):
called net zero, when the amount of carbon dioxide added
to the atmosphere is equal to or less than the
amount removed, a sinister goal, and criticised a British law
to reach net zero by twenty fifty. In March, the
Trump administration denounced the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which

(39:56):
were adopted by nations unanimously in twenty fifteen and include
ending poverty and hunger and addressing climate change. The administration
said the government of the United States must refocus on
the interests of Americans and course correct on things like
climate ideology. The Trump administration declined to attend global negotiations

(40:21):
this summer that are a precursor to annual United Nations
climate talks to be held in Brazil in November. It
also skipped an April meeting of the International Maritime Organization
where the world's largest shipping countries agreed to impose a
minimum fee of one hundred dollars for every ton of

(40:44):
greenhouse gases omitted by ships above certain thresholds as a
way of curbing emissions. The body had been expected to
formally adopt the fee in October, but the administration's announcement
this month that it would reject the Maritime Organization deal
shocked many with its blunt promise that the United States

(41:08):
would not hesitate to retaliate or explore remedies for our
citizens against other countries that support the shipping fee. Meanwhile,
virtually all of the Trump administration's trade deals include requirements
that the trading partners buy US oil and gas. South

(41:29):
Korea promised to buy one hundred billion dollars worth of
liquefied natural gas over an unstated period of time. Japan
is also expected to invest five hundred fifty billion dollars
in the United States, partially focused on energy infrastructure production.
A White House statement said that the money would include

(41:52):
liquified natural gas and advanced fuels. The administration said the
United States in Japan also we're planning a major expansion
of US energy exports to Japan. That is widely believed
to be a reference to a proposed forty four billion
dollar project to ship gas to Asia from the north

(42:15):
slope of Alaska. Europe narrowly avoided a trade war with
mister Trump by agreeing, among other things, to purchase seven
hundred fifty billion dollars in crude oil, natural gas, other
petroleum derivatives, and nuclear reactor fuel over three years. On

(42:35):
an annual basis. That would amount to more than three
times the amount of block brought bought last year from
the United States. You see a more systematic attempt to
be a fossil fuel first strategy to everything they do,
said Jake Schmidt, director of International Programs at the National

(42:56):
Resources Defense Council and Environmental Group. The administration may slow
the transition to clean energy by other countries, but cannot
stop it. Mister Schmidt said. Most countries that signed the
Paris Agreement will submit more ambitious targets for reducing their
greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations this year, although

(43:20):
some may temper those plans because of the US position,
he said. Diana forgot Roth, director of the Center for Energy,
Climate and Environment at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization,
argued that the Trump administration was doing the right thing
by pressuring countries to reject renewable energy. Europe is coming

(43:46):
to the United States saying help defend us against Russia,
help us with Ukraine. Misforgot, Ruff said, were at the
same time, they're spending three hundred fifty billion dollars a
year on green energy investments that are slowing their economies.
It doesn't seem to make very much sense to the

(44:06):
Trump administration, she said, adding I think we're going to
see more pressure. We continue with this story what we
know about the Minnesota Catholic school shooting. This was written
by Anashka Pattil, Talia Minzburg, and Andy Newman, and the

(44:29):
sailant on Wednesday fired through the windows of a Catholic
church in Minneapolis, killing an eight year old and a
ten year old and injuring eighteen other people, including fifteen children.
The police said the attacker then died of a self
inflicted gunshot wound. The Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said

(44:53):
the authorities identify the attacker as Robin Westman, twenty three,
who once attended this school at the church Annunciation, Catholic
Church officials said. Law enforcement officers said they recovered hundreds
of pieces of evidence connected with the shooting. In recent months,

(45:14):
the assailant visited the site as part of the planning
for the attack. A senior law enforcement official who spoke
on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation said on Thursday,
writings and videos by the assailants revealed a litany of
grievances and violent obsessions. When did the attack happen? The

(45:37):
shooting took place at about a thirty a m at
Annunciation Catholic Church in South Minneapolis, which has a school
for children in pre kindergarten through eighth grade. The students
had been observing an all school mass, an annual tradition
for the new academic year, which began Monday. Chief O'Hara

(45:59):
sat on that the shooter had tried to get inside
the church, but the doors had been locked after the
mass began, a long standing school practice and one that
he said probably saved countless lives. Elie Martins, a twenty
five year old youth minister who said she had been
sitting in a pew with children, said that bullets came

(46:23):
ripping through a window and that the school's principal instructed
everyone to get down. The shooting. The shooting lasted for
about two minutes, she said. Other witnesses and family members
described students and staff members who dived to the ground
between pews for safety. At least one student, who was

(46:44):
shot in the back, used his body to protect another child.
The shooter barricaded at least two doors of the church.
Church Chief O'Hara said. He said the assailant fired from
three weapons, a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol, before
dying from self inflicted from a self inflicted gunshot wound.

(47:08):
The shooter had purchased all three weapons lawfully. Investigators on
the scene recovered three shotgun shells, one hundred sixteen rifle rounds,
and one live round from the shooter's handgun, which appeared
to have jammed Chief O'Hara said who was killed and injured.

(47:30):
The two children killed in the shooting were eight year
old Fletcher Alexander Merkel and ten year old Harper Lillian Moyski,
according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office. Both died
in the pews of the church. The authority said at
least fifteen other children between the ages of six and

(47:51):
fifteen were injured. According to City officials, and all were
expected to survive. Three adults in their eighties who were
at ten years the mass, were also wounded, they said.
Jesse Merkle, Fletcher's father, delivered remarks at a news conference
outside the Annunciation Catholic Church on Thursday. He urged people

(48:13):
not to remember his son for the act that ended
his life, but for the person he was. We will
never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play
with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young
man he was on the path to be coming, mister
Merkle said of his son who was the shooter. Robin Westman,

(48:37):
whom the authorities identified as the attacker, is a former
student at the school. Authorities said within the last three months,
the assailant visited the church to help plan for the attack.
According to the senior law enforcement official who spoke anonymously
to discuss the investigation, the assailant lived in a three

(48:59):
story brick building in Richfield, a suburb just south of
the church, and worked at a local cannabis dispensary for
several months. This year. As a seventeen year old, the
assailant filed a court document to change her first name
to Robin from Robert. The document was also signed by

(49:20):
her mother, Mary Grace Westman, who worked in the business
office of the church for five years before retiring in
twenty twenty one. The document noted that miss Westman identified
as female and wants her name to reflect that identification.
In seemingly stream of consciousness videos she posted, the assailant

(49:44):
fixated on guns, violins, and school shooters. She displayed her
own catch of weapons, bullets, and what appeared to be
explosive devices, scrawled with antisemitic and racist language and threats
against President Trump. The assailant also left behind writings describing

(50:04):
her attack plans and her mental state leading up to
the shooting, which Joseph H. Thompson, the acting US Attorney
for the District of Minnesota, described as pure indiscriminate hate.
What have officials? Said? Mayor Jacob Fray of Minneapolis said
he had no words for the gravity, tragedy, or absolute

(50:29):
pain of this situation. Mister Frey, who has long advocated
stricter gun laws, rejected the thoughts and prayers sentiment that
officials often fell fall back on after mass shootings. Don't
just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,
he said, these kids were literally praying. At a visual

(50:51):
on Wednesday evening, the mayor called for action. Don't let
anyone tell you it's not about the guns, because it is,
he said. Carolyn Levitt, the White House Press Secretary, called
the shooter an evil monster at a press briefing on Thursday,
and said the FBI was viewing the attack as an

(51:11):
act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics.
While speaking at a steel plant in Wisconsin on Thursday,
Vice President JD. Vance said he, along with the First
Lady and the President, would start asking some very hard
questions about the root causes of this violence and that

(51:32):
the country was facing a mental health crisis. We continue
with this story. What exactly was that cabinet meeting? This

(51:52):
was written by Katie Rogers. What do you get for
a president who commands everybody's attention, all of the time.
For members of President Trump's cabinet on Tuesday, the answer
was apparently. This a televised meeting at the White House
that lasted almost half the work day in front of

(52:14):
a wall of cameras, the Old Apprentice host offered a
clear window into the way he was running his administration,
starting with an ego that appeared to need frequent feeding
and blustery stamina. This has never been done before, the
President said at one point, in between calling on secretaries

(52:34):
to speak and marveling over the waiting reporter's abilities to
hold microphones and cameras aloft for several hours there in
the cabinet room, which is starting to take on the
gilded cage look of mister Trump's oval office, all of
the President's men and women took their turns, each working

(52:55):
a little bit harder than the less, to offer mister
Trump praise and to assure him that they were working
to tackle his long list of grievances. That list is
as ever growing as it is specific to mister Trump's
pet peeves and political ambitions. It includes preventing transgender for

(53:16):
everybody in American sports using a heavy hand, perhaps the
death penalty. The President said, to crack down on violent crime,
the ongoing threat of windmills, the foul state of traffic medians,
the speed with which water flows, and the attempts at
securing peace deals for as many as seven international wars,

(53:40):
a number that seems to grow by the day. Mister Trump,
a pop culture maven, had relatively little to say about
what was arguably the biggest news of the day, the
engagement of Taylor Swift, whom he has publicly insulted and
threatened for not supporting him, to Travis Kelsey, the Kansas

(54:02):
City Chief's tight end. The event rattled on for so
long that the President was asked to comment on news
that had broken during the meeting. I wish him a
lot of luck, mister Trump said. I think he's a
great guy, and I think that she's a terrific person,
so I wish them a lot of luck. The cabinet

(54:23):
event was billed as a celebration of American workers ahead
of Labor Day, yet with a running time of three
hours and fifteen minutes, it would be considered a wildly
inefficient meeting at just about any other workplace. The actual
policy menu was just gristle in comparison to the red

(54:44):
meat politics. But for an afternoon, the Trump White House
really was as radically transparent as mister Trump likes to
say it is. There's something really nice about just, you know,
the openness of what we're doing, mister Trump mused as
he closed the gathering out its government. He also seemed

(55:05):
interested in dangling the idea that at any moment his
cabinet members could be humiliated on national television. Each one
of these people spoke, mister Trump said, apparently happy with
their performances. If I thought one of them did badly,
I would call that person out. He even threw them

(55:27):
a compliment for torching their daily schedules. These people are
very busy, as the hours sticked by mister Trump's cabinet
members highlighted the cost in hours, in money, perhaps in
karma of keeping a seat at his table, and many
did so while testing the apparently imaginary boundaries of the

(55:50):
Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political
activities on the job. The updates ranged from enthusiastic Lori
Chaves de Riemer, the Labor Secretary, implored the President to
come to her agency to look at his own big
beautiful face on a banner, to servile, and they went

(56:13):
on for hours. Occasionally policy peeked in, but only in
a way that allowed mister Trump to tack on his
own thoughts or to take a hard right turn. Robert F.
Kennedy Junior, the one time presidential challenger in current Health
and Human Service as secretary issued an update about shrimp

(56:36):
potentially contaminated with radioactive material, accusing South Asian nations of
dumping shrimp that was then packaged and sold at Walmart.
You are going to save the whales, mister Kennedy, who
once saw the head off a whale and drove it home, said,
while railing against the dangers of wind farms and wind energy,

(57:00):
a long held peeve of the president's. Mister Kennedy then
engaged mister Trump in a back and forth about rates
of autism and young boys, allowing the President to wonder
aloud if there was something artificially causing this, meaning a
drug or something, repeating a widely debunk theory that vaccines

(57:22):
cause autism and opening it up to an even vaguer interpretation.
This concludes the reading of The New York Times for today.
Your reader has been Blanca Michael Ward. If you have
any questions, comments, or suggestion concerning this program, please feel
free to call us at eight five nine four two

(57:45):
two six three nine zero. Thank you for listening, and
now please stay tuned for continued programming on Radio I