--:-- Shamita Basu: Hey there, it's Shamita. I've got a quick request for you. If Apple News Today is an essential part of your morning routine, follow the show in Apple Podcasts. And if you have another 30 seconds, leave us a rating and a review too. It helps other people find our show and it helps us know what you like about it. Thanks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, October 25th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, what's going on with all the food recalls? Why a boring voting experience is a good one. And the New Yorkers who feel conflicted about the World Series. But first, a new investigation from NPR looks into threats made by former President Donald Trump against his political rivals since he began preparing for the 2024 campaign.
--:-- Tom Dreisbach: We found that he had made more than 100 threats to investigate, prosecute, jail, arrest or otherwise punish his political opponents, other people in the media whose news coverage he doesn't like, rivals, Democratic district attorneys and in some cases private citizens.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's Tom Dreisbach with NPR. He reviewed Trump's speeches, interviews and social media posts to get a better sense of how he intends to use the power of the presidency, if he's reelected, to punish his opponents.
--:-- Tom Dreisbach: Some examples of these threats. He has called for Kamala Harris to be impeached and prosecuted. He has said he would assign a special prosecutor to investigate Joe Biden and his family and said Republican former Congresswoman Liz Cheney is guilty of treason.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Just yesterday, Trump threatened to go after Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating him. We got immunity at the Supreme Court. It's so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.
--:-- Tom Dreisbach: That audio is a little bit hard to make out, but Trump says we got immunity at the Supreme Court. It's so easy. I would fire him within two seconds.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's not just politicians. He's also threatened ordinary people. In one shared social media post, Trump suggested arresting poll workers.
--:-- Tom Dreisbach: Now, Dreisbach told us it's not clear what Trump could actually do as president, but we do have his first term to look back on when he repeatedly called to lock up his political rival, Hillary Clinton. According to the Mueller report, Trump actually directed or attempted to direct his attorney general to go after Clinton.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He did follow up on those threats to investigate his rivals. And so I'm not sure if this is a strategy so much as Trump telling us what he plans to, in fact, do once he's in office.
--:-- Tom Dreisbach: And a number of former Trump administration officials say they're worried about what they saw of Trump when he was in office. Dreisbach spoke with Stephanie Grisham, Trump's former press secretary, who has since turned on her former boss.
--:-- Stephanie Grisham: Now she's concerned that by speaking out, she's put a target on her back and she's making preparations for saving money because she is absolutely convinced that Trump will go after his enemies if he wins this election.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This culture of fear is part of the reason why John Kelly, one of Trump's former chiefs of staff, told the New York Times this week he believes Trump would rule like a fascist if reelected.
--:-- John Kelly: Kelly also spoke to The Atlantic and quotes Trump as once having said I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The big picture fear is that if Trump follows through on these threats if he becomes president and actually does use the Department of Justice to go after his enemies his critics his rivals that it could have a real chilling effect on people freedoms in this country That people would say, is it really worth it to criticize the president? Is it worth it to oppose him politically if I could end up facing an investigation?
--:-- Ian Bassin: And so that's the big concern, that this is how, as I put it, this is how autocrats cement their permanent grip on power, by forcing people out of the public square, by making them too afraid to speak up because they might face investigation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: More than 30 million people have already voted in this election. And on Election Day, tens of millions more will cast their ballots. Jessica Housman hopes your experience is pretty boring.
--:-- Jessica Housman: So I think that people should be really confident about their ability to go to the polls and cast a ballot and have that be the most boring thing that they've ever done. And then leave and have their ballot be counted as it was intended.
--:-- Shamita Basu: By boring, she means unremarkable, totally smooth. Now, what voting represents, the whole idea of civic participation, is really exciting to Hoosman.
--:-- Jessica Housman: She's the editorial director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet VoteBeat. And I spoke to her recently for Apple News in Conversation to do some myth busting around our voting processes and address false claims made by President Trump and many of his allies that suggest voting isn't safe or secure.
--:-- Jessica Housman: When you consider that the United States has 10,000 voting jurisdictions, and we're hearing about big problems in like one or two, that is an extraordinary success rate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In the past, Trump has brought up using only paper ballots as a way to safeguard against fraud. But Hoosman points out most Americans already vote by paper, even if they don't realize it.
--:-- Jessica Housman: The vast majority, like more than 95 percent of Americans, will ultimately cast their ballot on paper, even if they are making the selections on a machine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That machine spits out a receipt with all of the choices and what's counted is that physical paper and nothing that the machine itself is doing.
--:-- Jessica Housman: Hoosman says using machines actually adds a layer of security and accessibility to the process. Ballots can be really confusing and really long. And so people, you know, don't vote for a race accidentally or they accidentally vote for two people in a race instead of one.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That can invalidate your entire ballot. And if you're casting your ballot on a machine, the machine will not let you go forward if you've made an error, right? Like you have to go back and it prints out a ballot that can definitely be read by the tabulator and also human eyeballs.
--:-- Jessica Housman: Another widely talked about myth worth busting, election officials in counties can't just refuse to certify results. It's required by law.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And we've seen the fallout in places like Arizona, where election officials tried to do that. When people refuse to certify under specious grounds, they can be criminally prosecuted.
--:-- Jessica Housman: And so the people in Cochise County Arizona were prosecuted for this like had to hire attorneys had to defend themselves in court And I just don't think that they're going to do that again
--:-- Shamita Basu: And when it comes to certifying results on the federal level lawmakers passed a bipartisan law in 2022 that'll make it much more difficult for members of Congress to challenge presidential election results during the certification process.
--:-- Jessica Housman: The big takeaway here is our voting system isn't just incredibly safe. It's actually fairly remarkable how smoothly it runs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But in this political climate, there are some real threats that we should all be aware of. On Monday, we'll get into those and hear about some of the challenges election administrators are facing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Between now and then, if you go out to vote this weekend, we wish you a very boring voting experience.
--:-- Shamita Basu: From burgers to deli meat to waffles and eggs, millions of pounds of food have been recalled over the past few weeks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The CDC is investigating nearly 50 cases of E. coli. A dangerous nationwide listeria outbreak. A deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald's quarter pounder hamburgers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Chicken enchiladas sold at Trader Joe's. Kodiak, good and gather and simple truth. Deli meat brand Forzhead. Salads from Wegmans and Kroger and pasta at Walmart.
--:-- Shamita Basu: 10 deaths and 59 hospitalizations. Millions of pounds of products are now being recalled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As you heard there, some people are getting very sick, even dying. It all started this summer when there was a listeria contamination at a Boar's Head facility in Virginia.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The company ended up recalling 7.1 million pounds of meat, closing the facility entirely and stopping the production of their liverwurst.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That outbreak has been linked to 10 deaths, according to the CDC.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Then there was another listeria outbreak at Bruce Pack, a pre-cooked meat producer that sells to grocery stores like Trader Joe's and Aldi that led to chicken products being recalled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Last week, another recall with some waffle brands.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And this week, an E. coli outbreak at McDonald's that spread to at least 10 states and made dozens of people sick.
--:-- Shamita Basu: McDonald's says it's identified the source of the outbreak, one of its produce suppliers, and that it's pulling the quarter pounder off menus in affected locations.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So how worried should we be? The L.A. Times spoke with a food safety expert at Penn State who says there's no evidence to suggest that our food supply is less safe than it used to be.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In fact, he says it's actually gotten more safe in recent years with better sanitation procedures and more advanced technologies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Experts also say that even though it might seem like all these recent recalls must be related, the timing is most likely a coincidence.
--:-- Dr. Scott Roberts: It certainly seems more frequent nowadays. I think food is more processed now and consumers want it ready to eat. So there's a lot more steps in the process where contamination can occur.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The other thing is we're testing more and we have better testing mechanisms. So it's possible this is leading to some of the increased detection as well.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, here is what you should know about these bacteria. Vox explains listeria spreads both quickly and easily and can cause symptoms that go beyond typical foodborne illnesses, like muscle aches and fever.
--:-- Shamita Basu: E. coli isn't dangerous in and of itself. In fact, we have E. coli in our bodies. But some strains can make us pretty sick.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One food policy expert told Vox while our overall food system is safe we all need to be vigilant about what foods we buy and how we handle them
--:-- Shamita Basu: We post an article on our show notes page that lays out symptoms and what you should look out for
--:-- Shamita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tonight, Beyonce is set to join Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Houston.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The megastar song Freedom has been an anthem of sorts for Harris' campaign.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The campaign said that the event, staged in Texas, a red state, is meant to call attention to restrictive abortion bans.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Harris has had a string of stars join her recent rallies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this week in Detroit, Eminem appeared on stage, and last night Bruce Springsteen performed at a Harris event in Atlanta.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In legal news, the L.A. District Attorney is recommending Eric and Lyle Menendez be resentenced for the 1989 killing of their parents.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The brothers were originally sentenced to life without parole in trials that caught widespread attention in the 90s.
--:-- Shamita Basu: At the time, prosecutors argued that the killings were motivated by the brothers' desire to inherit their parents' wealth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But defense attorneys said that they were subject to years of sexual abuse by their father.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And new evidence bolstered that defense.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A judge will make a final decision about next steps, but they could be eligible for parole immediately.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, it's going to be a big sports weekend.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Let's start with soccer. Tonight, top-seeded Inter-Miami plays their first game in MLS Cup playoffs, taking on Atlanta United.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And all eyes will be on Miami's star, Lionel Messi.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Messi enters tonight's game with 20 goals and 16 assists in just 19 games.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This isn't going to be too much pressure for Messi or Suarez or any of those players, but more so, there is going to be pressure just on the collective of putting a bow on what has been a great gift to 2024, and I think I'm intrigued to see if anyone can knock them off.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's MLS Season Pass lead analyst Taylor Twelman.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Tonight's match kicks off at 8.30 p.m. Eastern Time and can be streamed free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, in baseball, a star-studded World Series begins tonight.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But as The Athletic notes, for one group of fans, it's going to be a tough choice who to support.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Yankees, the team that represents home for so many New Yorkers, or the Dodgers, the team that represents a lot of those same New Yorkers' childhoods.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Dodgers, of course, played in Brooklyn until the late 1950s when they left for Los Angeles.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Athletic spoke to a bunch of New Yorkers to see where their loyalties lie.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One said they remembered paying 75 cents to sit in the bleachers and watch the Brooklyn Dodgers play.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And he won't know for sure who to root for tonight until the game begins.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Another Brooklynite said her heart is with the Dodgers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In fact, Jackie Robinson lived not too far from her family home.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She said of her childhood team, I want them to beat those damn Yankees.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're listening in the News app, we've got a narrated article coming up next.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Sticking with baseball, the Atlantic looks at how and why fastballs have gotten so fast and the effect it's having on pitchers' elbows.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And I'll be back with the news on Monday.
