--:-- Shumita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, October 29th. I'm Shamitza Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: On today's show, the federal agency some Republicans want to shut down. Boeing workers are on strike and want their pensions back. And the fallout continues following Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. But first, we're one week out from Election Day. Do you have a case of election anxiety?
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Oh my God, do I guess. And I want it to be over. Either way, it has to end. I'm concerned about what's going to happen after the election. Will the amount of violence that happened on January 6th and they continue lying? Feeling a lot of anxiety, obviously, but really hopeful, actually. things are kind of looking like maybe there could be some good change, some positive change.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: That's just a few voters talking with local news outlets. People from both political parties say they're feeling deep concern over the outcome of the election, although Democrats are feeling the anxiety at higher rates. Molly Ball wrote about this recently in The Wall Street Journal, saying Trump supporters' anxiety had a different quality than that of Democrats.
--:-- Molly Ball: Trump voters were more likely to be motivated by Trump's false claims about voting fraud or his false labeling of Harris as a communist. Democrats were more concerned about Trump's anti-democratic rhetoric.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Molly Ball spoke to MSNBC about what she's hearing from voters. They said this does not feel like a normal election. This does not feel like a regular four-year event where everything goes back to normal and everything's going to be OK afterwards, no matter what.
--:-- Molly Ball: A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that half of voters believe violence is likely no matter the outcome. And a majority of respondents feel the country's divisions will continue growing. So there's this sense, you know, of existential peril for our democracy, for the nation.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: And you combine that with the fact that this looks like it's probably going to be the closest election in history. And nobody really has any clue which way it's going to go. And it really adds up to a very, very tense feeling.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: If you are in this camp of people feeling overwhelmed, stressed, maybe even losing sleep over the election, NPR spoke to some psychologists to come up with a list of tips. First is to recognize that whatever you're feeling is valid and remember that it will pass.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: It might mean that you need to take a break from the news or at least be more intentional about it. If you find yourself doom scrolling, set time limits and hold yourself to them. The other thing that can help is redirecting your anxious energy into action.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: That could mean volunteering at a phone bank, offering to drive people to the polls, or donating to causes that matter to you. or it could be completely non-political. The other really important thing to remember, politics is sort of designed to make you feel this way.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: One social psychologist told New York Magazine how politicians want us to feel scared and angry. They know those are feelings that motivate people to vote. It's why campaign ads and campaign rhetoric are often so dark and ominous So keep that perspective in mind too as you power through these next few days
--:-- Shamitza Basu: On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has been talking about an idea that's been around in Republican circles for decades and is seeing a sort of revival right now. I've said all the time I'm dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education and send education back to Wisconsin and back to the states.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Trump and other Republicans have suggested cutting federal funding for the way public schools teach about gender and race, among other things. And that language has made its way into the official party platform. Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next Republican administration, has a plan for how to shut the department down.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Even Betsy DeVos, Trump's former education secretary, who resigned because of the January 6th riots at the Capitol, recently said that she would return for another term if the goal was to close the department she once headed.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: So one question as this debate has been unfolding is, you know, could they actually do it? Could you just close the Department of Education? And, you know, the short answer is that yes, yes, you could.
--:-- Laura Meckler: Laura Meckler wrote about this for The Washington Post. She told us Republican candidates in some of the most competitive Senate and House races are following Trump's lead and getting behind the proposal to shut down the Department of Ed.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: On one hand, they say that this is just about more federal bureaucracy and it's unnecessary. It's a waste of money, essentially sort of a small government critique. And then more recently, you have critiques along the lines of the culture wars.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: and that the education department is essentially promoting an uber-woke, if you will, point of view. Meckler explained for the most part, schools fall under the jurisdiction of state and local governments, but the federal government plays a role.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: It does hand out money through the Title I program, which aids high-poverty school districts. It also runs the federal student loan program, which is a very, you know, very big $1.6 trillion program. And it also runs the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces U.S. civil rights laws at schools.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: So back to the question of is this even plausible? Meckler said yes, but with a lot of caveats. Shutting down the Department of Ed isn't something that a president could act on alone. It would take congressional action and most likely a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: This was recently put to the test in the House. A 2023 vote on a measure to abolish the department failed with about a quarter of Republicans joining every Democrat to vote no. So when I think about those numbers and how big of a lift it would be to actually get this done, you know, it's probably not going to happen.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: But on the other hand, you know, I think if we've learned anything from watching politics in this country for the last several years is that things happen that you don't expect to happen. I'm careful not to dismiss things when you see substantial support from both President Trump and many people in his party.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Let's turn now to an ongoing labor story with big economic implications, the strike at Boeing. The aerospace company announced yesterday that it's selling roughly $19 billion worth of stock to shore up its finances.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: This comes as thousands of workers are now in their seventh week of a labor strike. costing the company tens of millions of dollars each day, according to estimates. Boeing, which is about $58 billion in debt and has seen its share price drop more than 40% this year, is hoping to raise cash quickly to avoid having its credit rating downgraded.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: This is a big deal for the company and for the U.S. economy. Boeing employs roughly 150,000 people across the country and is one of the nation's largest exporters. The strike began in September, after 95 percent of union members rejected a deal that had been backed by both union leaders and Boeing.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: The company later put forth another offer that they called their best and final and allowed workers just days to approve or reject it. It never got put to a vote, and the offer was rescinded by Boeing. Ever since, production at some major factories that build airplanes has been on pause as the two sides go through contentious negotiations.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Last week, a second contract offer got voted down. John Holden, the president of the local union, said after the vote that they would not stand down.
--:-- John Holden: We will stand for the demands that our members need to get a contract that they can respect, that shows the respect that they deserve.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: The offer would have raised wages for union members by 35 percent over four years and would have included an immediate raise. But CNN explains that there is a bigger demand here. Workers want their pension plans back.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Back in 2014, Boeing replaced them with 401ks. And now many workers feel cheated, as one worker told a local NBC affiliate. For new hires, it's probably great. They have plenty of time.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: People like me, we don't have the time left. I had a defined pension when I hired in here. That's what I expected to get. And they took that away. The proposed contract didn't address the pension plans.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: The union has said that it's in talks with the U.S. Department of Labor to bring everyone back to the bargaining table. For Boeing, the moment can't come soon enough. It had already announced plans to cut its global workforce by about 10 percent, which is around 17,000 jobs.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: And it's still trying to recover from several years of high-profile mistakes. In fact, Boeing hasn't reported a full-year profit since 2018. That's when the first of two fatal 737 crashes happened, killing hundreds and forcing a months-long grounding of the jet.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Before we let you go, let's turn to a few other stories being featured in the Apple News app. The United Nations agency providing basic essentials for Palestinian refugees for almost a century has been banned from Israel by parliament.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Israel is claiming that some U staffers were involved in terrorist activities Axios reports that the decision could have life consequences and prevent aid from getting to millions of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: This comes just two weeks after U.S. officials sent a letter to Israeli leaders urging them to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days or risk losing some U.S. military aid.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: In response to this latest move, a U.S. State Department spokesperson says The Biden administration is deeply concerned that the Israeli ban will exacerbate already dire conditions.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Meanwhile, in U.S. politics, Democrats are reacting to remarks made at Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Kamala Harris's campaign has already launched a new ad highlighting derogatory comments made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Latinos and his reference to Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: A Democratic super PAC sent texts to thousands of Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania to make sure they saw the clip. Latinos make up 6 percent of all voters in the state.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Half of them are Puerto Rican. Meanwhile, as Trump's team tries to downplay the backlash, Harris spoke to reporters about it.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Donald Trump spends full time trying to have Americans point their finger at each other. Fans the fuel of hate and division. And that's why people are exhausted with him.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: That's why people who formerly have supported Donald Trump, have voted for him, are supporting me, voting for me.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: And in media news, there is ongoing fallout at The Washington Post after the paper announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Now, nearly a third of the paper's 10-person editorial staff says they're stepping down from the board. According to NPR, the editorial board had already drafted an endorsement of Kamala Harris, but it got blocked by Jeff Bezos, who owns the paper.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: The decision was met with fury by many staffers. At least two columnists quit, and more than 200,000 people reportedly canceled their digital subscriptions within a day.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: Marty Barron, the Post's former executive editor, called the block an act of cowardice in an interview on CNN.
--:-- Marty Barron: To sort of declare a moment of high principle only 11 days before the election, that's just highly suspect. And it's just not to be believed that this was a matter of principle at this point.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: The owner of the L.A. Times made a similar decision just days before, which led to the resignations of that paper's editorials editor and two editorial board members.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: That editorial board had also drafted an endorsement for Harris. It got spiked by the paper's billionaire biotech owner. And USA Today, which endorsed a candidate for the first time in decades in 2020, has reverted back to a no endorsement stance.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next from Bicycling Magazine about women in Afghanistan who became some of the nation's best athletes in spite of death threats from the Taliban.
--:-- Shamitza Basu: If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
