--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. Today is Thursday, September 19th.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Here's what we're covering. Polling from the Times and its partners is giving a new snapshot of the election in the days after the presidential debate.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Kamala Harris overwhelmingly impressed likely voters. Almost 70% of them said she did well at last week's debate, compared to just 40% who said the same for Donald Trump.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: The polls from The Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Siena College showed that Harris even got a positive review from the majority of one of Trump's most loyal demographics, white voters without a college degree.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: But when it comes to who Americans say they'll vote for, the debate didn't seem to move the needle. Despite surging enthusiasm among Democrats, Harris does not have a decisive edge. The race is still a toss-up, 47 percent to 47 percent.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: And the polling indicates Harris might have missed an opportunity to address voters' concerns that they don't know enough about her. The share of voters who said they still want to learn more about Harris is nearly the same now as it was before the debate.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: No endorsement, I think, sends a message to both parties that if they truly want to support working people, they have to reevaluate it and understand that nothing is given, it is earned.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: The Teamsters Union, which represents more than 1.3 million truck drivers, freight haulers and other workers, has announced that it will not back a presidential candidate this year.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: The president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O'Brien, said that, quote, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: The decision means that neither Harris nor Trump will have the union organizing muscle on their side in the final few weeks of the campaign. But it seen as a particular blow to Harris.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: In recent elections, the Teamsters backed Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, and Harris has supported pro-organizing legislation.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Notably, she had locked in the support of all the other biggest unions in the country. Trump, however, has been wooing O'Brien. He invited him to his club, Mar-a-Lago, this summer, and O'Brien got a primetime slot at the Republican National Convention.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: While none of the board members of the Teamsters voted to back Trump, two union surveys showed that he had much more support among rank-and-file members than Harris.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Lebanon was thrown into chaos again yesterday when more handheld devices began exploding.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: At least 20 people were killed, and hundreds more were injured, when walkie-talkies carried by members of Hezbollah blew up.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: It was the second coordinated attack against the militant group this week. On Tuesday, exploding pagers killed at least 12 people and maimed thousands more, including many civilians.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Defense and intelligence officials who were briefed on the attacks tell The Times that they were a carefully coordinated Israeli operation.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: They say that Israel didn't tamper with the devices. It made them. They say that Israel used a shell company based in Hungary to sell normal pagers to normal clients.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: But in 2022, it also started sending pagers filled with explosives to Lebanon. Israeli intelligence officers referred to the booby-trapped devices as buttons that could be pushed when the time seemed ripe.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Effectively, a Trojan horse built to detonate on command. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the explosions but the country has a history of covert attacks on Iran and its affiliates like Hezbollah.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: In one case it assassinated a top Iranian nuclear scientist remotely using an AI robot.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Today on The Daily, Times-Jerusalem bureau chief Patrick Kingsley takes a closer look at the attacks. He explains what they could mean for Israel's ongoing fight with Hezbollah.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: Good afternoon. My colleagues and I remain squarely focused on achieving our dual mandate goals of maximum employment and stable prices for the benefit of the American people.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: On Wednesday, Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, announced that the Fed is lowering interest rates for the first time in four years.
--:-- Patrick Kingsley: They're dropping rates half a percentage point, an unusually large move. Inflation is now much closer to our objective, and we have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: The Fed has been trying to strike a balance. It's kept rates up to fight inflation, but it's also trying not to hold them so high for so long that the job market suffers.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: It's important to keep in mind that this represents a win, but also a worry. Ben Castleman covers economics for The Times.
--:-- Ben Castleman: The win here is that inflation has come down a lot, and the Fed feels like it's in a place where it can cut interest rates.
--:-- Ben Castleman: But the fear here is the unemployment rate has been rising, and it's been rising in part because of those high interest rates, which has made it harder for people to spend.
--:-- Ben Castleman: It's made it harder for companies to invest in their businesses. And the Fed is concerned that if they don't cut rates further, that that could lead to a further slowdown in the economy to more job losses to more unemployment and ultimately to a recession.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Ben says that the Fed is signaling that it will cut rates even more in the coming months though it's not yet clear by how much.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: And finally, Mr. Beast is known for being kind of like the Internet's fairy godmother.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Whichever one lasts the longest in this cube, would have a million dollars for their subscribers. The YouTube star gives out big prizes to people who participate in his elaborate stunts. And it works. His channel is one of the most popular on the platform, with 316 million subscribers.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: I give you all three days. That money's hard! Earlier this year, Mr. Beast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, announced his biggest competition yet, Beast Games, a reality show with a $5 million prize.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: About 2,000 fans were chosen to participate, and they moved into a stadium in Nevada where they lived, slept, and faced off in challenges like extreme capture the flag.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: The show was always going to be a little chaotic, but a number of contestants say the set was dangerous too.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Now some of them are suing. They've claimed there wasn't enough food or medical care on set. Multiple people were hurt. Several were hospitalized.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Their suit also claims some contestants weren't appropriately paid. Amazon MGM Studios, which is producing the show, didn't respond to a request for comment from the Times.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Representatives for Mr. Beast declined to comment. One contestant quoted in the lawsuit said, If you know his videos, you know they always seem really great and exciting and grand.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: However, things are not always what they seem.
--:-- Amelia Nierenberg: Those are the headlines. I'm Amelia Nierenberg. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.
