--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Friday, November 7th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, why one Caribbean nation is backing Trump's military campaign in the region, a fight between media giants leads to a TV blackout, and you'll never guess, or maybe you will, the Louvre's surveillance system password. But first, to the news that one of the most consequential politicians of the 21st century has decided, after nearly four decades in Congress, to retire when her term ends in 2027.
--:-- Nancy Pelosi: Yesterday, I spoke directly to my San Francisco voters. I will not be seeking re-election to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative. As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this. San Francisco, know your power.
--:-- Molly Ball: The odds were stacked against her. There was no women's bathroom on the House floor. Women were not allowed to wear pants on the floor of the Senate. And she had to fight tooth and nail against a lot of sexism and attitudes that women didn't belong in the halls of power to shatter what she called the marble ceiling when she became the first woman speaker in 2007.
--:-- Nancy Pelosi: That period of my first speakership was defined by the financial crisis. In a moment that cemented my status as the most powerful woman in America, then-Treasury Secretary Hank Poulsen, a Republican worth hundreds of millions of dollars, literally got down on one knee and reportedly begged me to support his rescue package.
--:-- Molly Ball: After President Obama was elected, she pushed banking reform through Congress and was central to getting the Affordable Care Act over the line. When she's asked about her legacy, she always points to her policy accomplishments, especially the Affordable Care Act. Her role has never been sufficiently appreciated. I do not think it would have gotten done had she not been able to force it through the House under very difficult circumstances.
--:-- Nancy Pelosi: Her second speaker stint beginning in 2019 brought more legislative gains once Biden was elected, focused on renewable energy investment and large-scale industrial spending commitments.
--:-- Molly Ball: Ball believes the only comparable figure in politics today is her counterpart in the Senate, Mitch McConnell. But Pelosi, one of Congress's most astute observers of power, was caught off guard by President Trump's rise. You know what? He's not going to be president. He is not, Donald Trump is not going to be president of the United States. Take it to the bank.
--:-- Nancy Pelosi: But Trump was elected president twice. And Ball told us that a huge part of my image is now defined by being the longest serving opponent and foil to Trump's agenda.
--:-- Molly Ball: Ball notes the parallels of today to 2019 during the shutdown in Trump's first term. She went to the White House, met with Donald Trump. The meeting was all recorded and broadcast live. And she interrupted him. She stuck her finger in his face. She called him a liar to his face.
--:-- Nancy Pelosi: Mr. President, please don't characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as the leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory. And she told him that she believed that she had the leverage in this situation and the Democrats were not going to cave and he was going to own the shutdown.
--:-- Molly Ball: Trump was widely seen as having conceded in that standoff. Pelosi was a frequent target of Republican attack ads under Trump, characterized as the ultimate out-of-touch Washington insider who had accumulated enormous wealth in office. She was also the target of violence. In 2022, her husband Paul was attacked in their home by a man who was looking for her, and January 6th rioters were heard shouting, where's Nancy, as they stormed the building.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Congress will not restrict President Trump's military campaign in the Caribbean for now, after a vote that would have required congressional authorization failed yesterday.
--:-- Kajal Villas: Several Republicans have expressed concerns about Trump's strikes against votes in the region, but in the end, only two, Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, voted with the Democrats, though others reiterated they remained concerned.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. forces carried out its 16th strike, this time in the Eastern Pacific.
--:-- Kajal Villas: While there are major questions about the legality of the strikes, President Trump appears to have found a new ally in the region, Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamala Persaud Bissetzer, who took office just months ago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: She's not somebody who has a particularly strong ideology. Her policies kind of shift by what many would call the right or left or conservative or liberal values, depending on issue.
--:-- Kajal Villas: That's me, Kajal Villas, Latin America correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. In her current incarnation, she has very much sold herself as this kind of law and order populist whose number one priority is restoring security and cutting down on violent crime and trafficking of arms, drugs, human smuggling.
--:-- Shumita Basu: All these issues that she says are kind of knock-on effects of the breakdown in neighboring Venezuela. Trinidad and Tobago is a small Twin Island nation that's just eight miles east of Venezuela.
--:-- Kajal Villas: Massive U.S. aircraft carriers have recently come within miles of its shores.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Villas tells us the prime minister's embrace of Trump is in part pinned to her hope that he can help unlock Venezuelan gas reserves that her country needs.
--:-- Kajal Villas: Trinidad and Tobago oil and gas industry accounts for 40 percent of its entire economy and 80 percent of foreign currency intake. But it only has about a decade of gas reserves remaining.
--:-- Shumita Basu: That means their relationship with Venezuela is crucial. The last couple governments in Trinidad have been really keen on trying to secure new gas supplies, which Venezuela is sitting on but has done very little to exploit.
--:-- Kajal Villas: You know, over the last several years, as the U.S. has turned the screw on Venezuela and applied pressure to the authoritarian government there. Doing business with Venezuela has become increasingly difficult for Trinidad and Tobago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Villas said the big question is, what is Persaud Bissetar hoping to gain by standing with the U.S.? What I've heard from numerous people who had worked closely with the prime minister in the past is they described her as a risk taker, kind of a gambler when it comes to making political calculations.
--:-- Kajal Villas: What many people suspect is that she seems to be placing her bets here on the U.S. actually achieving a regime change in Venezuela, which could potentially be a boon for Trinidad and Tobago.
--:-- Shumita Basu: One thing she might be banking on, new Venezuelan leadership that might be more open to standing by their business deals.
--:-- Kajal Villas: Now for a negotiation standoff not in Congress, but between two media giants.
--:-- Shumita Basu: As lots of people have canceled their cable subscriptions, many have turned instead to YouTube TV, which Google owns.
--:-- Kajal Villas: With its 10 million subscriber base, it's the fourth largest cable TV provider. And for many, there is one big draw, sports.
--:-- Shumita Basu: But right now, subscribers are losing out. Last week, YouTube announced that it would not be airing any Disney-owned stations, which includes ABC and ESPN.
--:-- Kajal Villas: That means that as many as 10 million people who rely on YouTube TV for streaming sports missed out on Monday Night Football this past week.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And it's not just sports. Disney's whole stable is down, including ABC and FX.
--:-- Julia Boorstin: Disney and YouTube have been battling about both compensation along with whether Disney's streaming apps content should be ingested into YouTube's streaming platform to make it easier to watch all at once.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And the sticking point is money. Google says that Disney is demanding too much for all the channels in question. And Disney says that, in turn, Google is not paying fair rates.
--:-- Julia Boorstin: Until the two sides come to an agreement, there's a blackout. Customers have been offered a partial credit and a refund if the standoff drags on.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The dispute has even compelled some of its network's biggest stars to weigh in on the air.
--:-- Pat McAfee: So this ESPN YouTube TV thing is like a real, I mean, this is a real, hey, you guys need to figure this out type situation for sports fans because it felt like YouTube TV was actually crafted for sports fans.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The L.A. Times notes that for many, whether you pay for it or not, YouTube isn't just competing with traditional television. It is television.
--:-- Pat McAfee: And its influence is being felt more and more as other platforms are starting to mimic the site, which is the most watched streamer on TV screens across the U.S.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Meanwhile, ratings for ESPN Monday night football game this week between the Cowboys and Cardinals were significantly lower than normal.
--:-- Pat McAfee: Sports Illustrated notes the game drew just 16 million viewers, a stunningly low number considering the presence of the Cowboys who usually draw big ratings no matter what.
--:-- Shumita Basu: It's yet to be seen what'll happen this coming Monday when two powerhouse teams, the Eagles and the Packers, face off.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.
--:-- Shumita Basu: A federal judge ruled the Trump administration must fully fund SNAP benefits for the month of November.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The administration previously said it would only pay half of the allotted amount to recipients after a judge forced the government to tap an emergency fund to pay for the program.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Food stamp funding was set to lapse on November 1st due to the shutdown.
--:-- Shumita Basu: It's been a bit of a back and forth for those who rely on the program.
--:-- Shumita Basu: On Wednesday, the USDA said it had corrected an error and recipients would receive 65 percent of their benefits.
--:-- Shumita Basu: The administration on Thursday appealed the judge's ruling on fully funding SNAP, throwing into question when people will actually get their food benefits and how much they will receive.
--:-- Shumita Basu: What is Elon Musk worth to Tesla? Apparently one trillion dollars.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Yesterday, shareholders approved a record-setting pay package with more than 75% of the votes cast.
--:-- Shumita Basu: According to the Wall Street Journal, the vote was seen as a referendum on Musk's leadership and his vision for humanoid robotics.
--:-- Shumita Basu: At the shareholder meeting, he appeared on stage flanked by dancing robots and said they were embarking on, quote, not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And finally, we've all been guilty of having a bad password or one that's really easy to guess, but it turns out security at the Louvre took that notion to a whole new level.
--:-- Shumita Basu: A museum employee says the password to the surveillance system when the museum was robbed was simply the word Louvre.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Security at the world's most famous museum is under intense scrutiny after last month's brazen daytime heist of $102 million worth of historic jewelry.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Louvre officials also said in testimony, the gallery where the jewels were taken only had one external camera that did not face the window where the thieves entered.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Four people have been arrested in connection to the heist. One is still at large.
--:-- Shumita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shumita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around for the latest episode of Apple News in Conversation.
--:-- Shumita Basu: This week, I sat down with the journalist Irene Carmon, to hear about her new book, Unbearable, Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Over the past few years, Carmon followed several families and how they navigated fertility struggles, pregnancy, birth, and loss.
--:-- Shumita Basu: America has failed to see us as fully people, as fully human, who are in possession of our full faculties, and instead as a means to an end or a vessel.
--:-- Shumita Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News In Conversation to find that episode or come back to the Apple News Today feed tomorrow.
--:-- Shumita Basu: All new episodes of In Conversation will be available there on Saturdays, too.
--:-- Shumita Basu: Enjoy the weekend and we'll be back with the news on Monday.
