--:-- [Up First theme music fades out]
--:-- Scott Simon: Welcome to Up First. It's been a wild and exhausting election season. I'll say, and as we get even closer to November 5th, as you continue to follow events with this podcast, we want you to know there are other ways to keep up with developments throughout the week.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: That's right, Scott. You can find a new episode of the NPR Politics Podcast with context and analysis on the big stories whenever they happen, every weekday.
--:-- Scott Simon: Now, how might this work into your busy day-to-day? You get an alert, big breaking news, you don't have time to think about it, or you don't know what to think about it. But you can look for the NPR Politics Podcast a few hours later. And then you can also listen to Consider This. It's the podcast where NPR covers one big story in depth every weekday evening. They're all over this election and the aftermath.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: So to recap now, you've got Up First in the morning, Consider This in the evening, and the NPR Politics Podcast, Anytime Big News Happens. An around-the-clock election news survival kit from NPR Podcasts.
--:-- Scott Simon: Okay, thank you for listening. Now let's get back to business. Israel strikes back, hitting military targets in Iran.
--:-- Scott Simon: I'm Scott Simon. I'm Ayesha Rascoe, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: Israel's strikes are in retaliation for Iran's attack earlier this month.
--:-- Scott Simon: More on that in a moment. Also, a draft endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris is scrapped. The Washington Post will not endorse a presidential candidate. What's behind the decision?
--:-- Scott Simon: And in Los Angeles, a 10th inning grand slam and a win for the Dodgers. Exactly the kind of baseball you expect in Game 1 of the World Series, unless you're a Yankees fan.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: So please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend.
--:-- Scott Simon: This message comes from Charles Schwab with their original podcast, Choiceology. Choiceology is a show about the psychology and economics behind people's decisions.
--:-- Scott Simon: Support for NPR and the following message come from Pete and Jerry's Eggs. Their new organic pasture-raised eggs come from hens that roam lush pastures and enjoy a USDA-certified organic diet.
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--:-- Daniel Estrin: Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel's overnight attack comes after more than a year of war fueled by Iran and its proxies.
--:-- Scott Simon: Like every other sovereign country in the world, the state of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: The U.S. says it wants this to be the end of Israel and Iran's direct military confrontation.
--:-- Scott Simon: And here's Daniel Estrin has more from Tel Aviv.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: Daniel, thanks for being with us.
--:-- Scott Simon: Thanks for having me, Scott.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: What exactly did Israel target?
--:-- Daniel Estrin: I spoke about this with an official who is briefed on the matter, an official who is not authorized to speak publicly about this, but who told me that there were three waves of Israeli strikes on Iran.
--:-- Scott Simon: The first wave of strikes was on Iran's air defenses. The second and third waves were on storage and production sites of ballistic missiles and drones.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: This official said that Israel's response was designed as a kind of a quid pro quo after Iran carried out its missile strikes on Israel on October 1st, and also designed in a way that Iran would be able to contain any reaction
--:-- Scott Simon: Israel says that its retaliation against Iran is now over. And Iran indeed is signaling that it downplaying this. Iran state news agency said Israeli airstrikes caused limited damage.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: It says civilian flights are up and running again in the country. It also said two of its soldiers were killed.
--:-- Scott Simon: So we will have to see if this does draw an Iranian response.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: We know the U.S. had been sending air defenses and troops to the region in anticipation of the strikes.
--:-- Scott Simon: Was the U.S. involved in the Israeli attacks?
--:-- Daniel Estrin: The U.S. says it was not involved directly in Israel's attacks.
--:-- Scott Simon: But the U.S. had been very much involved behind the scenes, not only sending those air defenses and troops you mentioned, but in the last several weeks, the U.S. has been encouraging Israel very strongly not to hit nuclear facilities or oil facilities in Iran.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: And indeed, that's what happened. Israel did not attack nuclear or oil facilities, and the U.S. seems satisfied with Israel's response.
--:-- Scott Simon: A senior U.S. official told reporters that Israel focused solely on military targets and avoided populated areas.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: And the U.S.'s main message here is that this should be the end of direct military exchange between Israel and Iran.
--:-- Scott Simon: Israel seems to be suggesting that this could be just the beginning and not the end.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: The official I spoke with said Israel's attack was designed to send a warning to Iran that Israel's intelligence and its air force are far-reaching and would be able to act in the future.
--:-- Scott Simon: And Israel could even be trying to build a case for targeting Iran's nuclear facilities in the future.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: Of course, Daniel, Israel is still waging wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
--:-- Scott Simon: Do you foresee those conflicts reaching any kind of resolution soon?
--:-- Daniel Estrin: In Gaza, on the short term, maybe there is a new U.S. diplomatic push for a hostage and ceasefire deal.
--:-- Scott Simon: There's a new Egyptian proposal on the table for a mini 10-day ceasefire.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: So we'll have to see how those efforts go.
--:-- Scott Simon: Long term, though, it's very hard to see Israel ending in a major final way, ending its operations in Gaza when it doesn't have a clear plan in place for who takes over Gaza after the war ends.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: And as Israel's assault in North Gaza is only intensifying.
--:-- Scott Simon: On the Lebanon front, the U.S. is pushing for a ceasefire there in the coming weeks, not in the coming months.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: And remember, in Israel, these wars have been costly for Israel.
--:-- Scott Simon: Just in the last few days, a dozen Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon and in Gaza.
--:-- Daniel Estrin: Two Israeli civilians were killed recently from rocket fire from Lebanon.
--:-- Scott Simon: So that is also a factor, certainly, in how Israel calculates how long it can go on fighting.
--:-- David Folkenflik: The motto of the Washington Post is democracy dies in darkness. And yet in the final days of a presidential race that's too close to call, the Post is not endorsing either candidate.
--:-- Scott Simon: And Pierre Media correspondent David Folkenflik broke this story and joins us.
--:-- David Folkenflik: David, thanks for being with us.
--:-- Scott Simon: Pleasure.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Post is known for its political coverage. It's the paper that broke the Watergate story and many more without fear or favor.
--:-- Scott Simon: We've seen the movies. Why is it stepping away from making an endorsement in this presidential race?
--:-- David Folkenflik: So let's go first to the stated reason posted yesterday just before noon from the publisher and chief executive Will Lewis.
--:-- Scott Simon: He says that the Post wants to return to its roots independent of partisan interests.
--:-- David Folkenflik: It sort of has for decades dialed itself as an independent newspaper under owner Jeff Bezos.
--:-- Scott Simon: He said they are going to for the future not endorse in presidential races and seek to attain that.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Now, this was a paper that has been editorially largely supportive, not uniformly, but largely supportive of the Biden-Harris administration.
--:-- Scott Simon: There had been a draft of an endorsement in the works endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency.
--:-- David Folkenflik: And, you know, this is a newspaper that has been in the vanguard of reporting on former President Donald Trump's alleged wrongdoing and potential illegalities in office and has denounced him editorially for that on its editorial pages all throughout.
--:-- Scott Simon: That proposed endorsement, which had been embraced by the editorial page editor, doesn't come as a surprise.
--:-- David Folkenflik: But right now, if you're looking at it on its own terms, the explanation, you look at a time when the media is under attack.
--:-- Scott Simon: Trust is at record lows particularly among conservatives especially among Trump supporters
--:-- David Folkenflik: This is on its surface an effort by the owner Jeff Bezos to try to remediate and address that
--:-- Scott Simon: What the reaction been like at The Post?
--:-- David Folkenflik: Well, because of The Post's record in its reporting and because of its strong opinions talking about Trump being unfit for office in its separately run editorial side, particularly as a result of the January 2021 efforts to deny President Biden's certification of his win, there's been furor.
--:-- Scott Simon: There's been tumult inside the Post and to some degree outside of it as well.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Resignation of Robert Kagan, a longtime columnist editor at large.
--:-- Scott Simon: He's been warning for years of Trump as an authoritarian in the making.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Robert Kagan is no liberal either. He is absolutely not a liberal by any stretch or means.
--:-- Scott Simon: Ten opinion writers at the Post denounced the Post's decision in a posting they did on its own website.
--:-- David Folkenflik: You saw Woodward and Bernstein come up.
--:-- Scott Simon: You saw Marty Baron, the lionized former executive editor of The Post, call it cowardice and spineless.
--:-- David Folkenflik: And you saw over 1,600 cancellations of digital subscriptions there three hours after the story broke.
--:-- Scott Simon: And that's happening against a backdrop in which Trump has been attempting to directly and expressly intimidate the press, saying that if he wins office once more, that he will wreak vengeance against it.
--:-- David Folkenflik: And if you think about Jeff Bezos, yes, he's the owner of The Post, but of course, the founder of Amazon.
--:-- Scott Simon: He has a ton of business interests worth billions involving the federal government.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Amazon's shipping its cloud computing contracts.
--:-- Scott Simon: And his space company, Blue Origin, has a multibillion-dollar deal with the federal government to take people into the heavens.
--:-- David Folkenflik: This follows a similar decision by the publisher of the Los Angeles Times.
--:-- Scott Simon: Is it a similar story and reasoning by the owner there?
--:-- David Folkenflik: Yeah, and interestingly, there is no formal publisher there.
--:-- Scott Simon: It's all being decided by owner Patrick Soon-Shang.
--:-- David Folkenflik: There had also been an editorial in support of Kamala Harris being drafted, and he decided to kill it.
--:-- Scott Simon: That led to the resignation of the editorial center and two other editorial writers there.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Patrick Sunchang, again, a civic leader, stepped forward to buy the Times to try to sustain it.
--:-- Scott Simon: And at the same time, he's a billionaire, physician, inventor with major interest before federal regulators.
--:-- David Folkenflik: Should Trump win again, he is threatening this vengeance that I mentioned.
--:-- Scott Simon: And so here's the question. Are these figures trying to, at a time of low trust in the media, redefine their papers as more independent and away from partisan interests just days before an election that their own editorial pages say may define the future of the American democratic experiment for decades to come?
--:-- David Folkenflik: Or is this a moment where papers are buckling in the face of potential pressure because, of course, this race is so close, they don't know who's going to win?
--:-- Michelle Steele: Traffic in Los Angeles yesterday was a nightmare.
--:-- Scott Simon: And for the New York Yankees, so was game one of the World Series.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Isn't traffic always a nightmare in Los Angeles?
--:-- Scott Simon: Anyway, an extra inning, a grand slam, and a win for the hometown Dodgers.
--:-- Michelle Steele: ESPN's Michelle Steele joins us.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Michelle, thanks for being with us.
--:-- Scott Simon: I don't know how any Dodgers fans went to sleep after that game, Scott.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Oh, I mean, my gosh. Six to three, 10th inning walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman.
--:-- Scott Simon: What an ending.
--:-- Michelle Steele: It was just horrific, wasn't it?
--:-- Scott Simon: I mean, that's what this time of year is all about.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Oh, absolutely.
--:-- Scott Simon: Can I just set the scene here?
--:-- Michelle Steele: Sure.
--:-- Scott Simon: For what happened?
--:-- Michelle Steele: I'm ready to relive it all.
--:-- Scott Simon: Dodgers fans will be with me on this one.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Yankees lead 3-2, men on first and second base.
--:-- Scott Simon: The Yankees intentionally walk Mookie Betts.
--:-- Michelle Steele: To get to Freddie Freeman, now you might be asking yourself, why would you do that?
--:-- Scott Simon: Well, Freeman is basically playing on one leg.
--:-- Michelle Steele: He's got a sprained right ankle.
--:-- Scott Simon: He's not going to hit with any power.
--:-- Michelle Steele: No way.
--:-- Scott Simon: Not that guy.
--:-- Michelle Steele: And the rest is history.
--:-- Scott Simon: Freeman hits his first home run since September 16.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Bases loaded.
--:-- Scott Simon: First walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Channeling Kirk Gibson in his walk-off home run in 1988 in the World Series.
--:-- Scott Simon: And there's a reason, Scott Simon, that this is called the Fall Classic.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Can't wait for Game 2.
--:-- Michelle Steele: So many stars between these two teams.
--:-- Scott Simon: Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton.
--:-- Michelle Steele: I could go on.
--:-- Scott Simon: We'd run out of money then, though.
--:-- Michelle Steele: You can go on after those contracts.
--:-- Scott Simon: Oh mercy yes.
--:-- Michelle Steele: But that part of what makes it fair.
--:-- Scott Simon: And of course Shohei Otani his first year with the Dodgers his first year in the playoffs after missing all of them in all six seasons with the LA Angels.
--:-- Michelle Steele: I mean, there's no predicting, but what an opportunity to see what, you know, a man who's already acclaimed as one of the greats of all time and maybe the greatest playing in these kinds of circumstances.
--:-- Scott Simon: Yeah, you know, you went through all of those stars and these games are absolutely loaded on both sides here.
--:-- Michelle Steele: But I want to make a special mention for Shohei Otani because the whole world watches this guy.
--:-- Scott Simon: I mean, there are some reports saying that more people were watching him in Japan in the NLCS than they were even in the United States.
--:-- Michelle Steele: He's an absolute superstar.
--:-- Scott Simon: And is the pressure reaching him?
--:-- Michelle Steele: I don't think so.
--:-- Scott Simon: I mean, he's playing great.
--:-- Michelle Steele: He's a lot happier.
--:-- Scott Simon: He looks a lot happier.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Is the Dodger playing in the World Series than he did as an angel going home to Japan every year for the last six years after the final game of the regular season.
--:-- Scott Simon: You know, Scott, there was a video that circulated of him last year after an Angels loss where the guy looked to be almost on the verge of tears.
--:-- Michelle Steele: People around him saw how unsatisfied he was because he came to this country to compete for championships.
--:-- Scott Simon: He said after the game last night, he's just grateful to be in this position.
--:-- Michelle Steele: And you know what, if you watch him, he's showing swagger, he's showing fire.
--:-- Scott Simon: It's great to see.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Don't look for him to pitch in this series.
--:-- Scott Simon: Dave Roberts has slammed the brakes on that idea.
--:-- Michelle Steele: But the rest of his game is on full display.
--:-- Scott Simon: Oh boy.
--:-- Michelle Steele: And I got to ask about Fernando Valenzuela.
--:-- Scott Simon: The Dodger great passed away Tuesday at the age of 63.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Fans might remember Fernando mania, the magical 1981 season that ended with a World Series title.
--:-- Scott Simon: Dodgers remembered him last night.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Oh, yeah.
--:-- Scott Simon: They played a video tribute before the game, and as you can imagine, plenty of people in the stands with number 34 jerseys.
--:-- Michelle Steele: He's heavy on the mind this week for that franchise.
--:-- Scott Simon: The last time the Dodgers played the Yankees, right?
--:-- Michelle Steele: Valenzuela was in the rotation.
--:-- Scott Simon: He started and won game three for them.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Oral Hirschheiser and Steve Yeager walked out in number 34 jerseys when they came out to throw the first pitch.
--:-- Scott Simon: You know, it's really sad, of course.
--:-- Michelle Steele: I meant so much to that franchise past the week before the World Series.
--:-- Scott Simon: But what an appropriate time to honor someone who meant so much to this team.
--:-- Michelle Steele: Yeah.
--:-- Scott Simon: And that's Up First for Saturday, October 26, 2024.
--:-- Scott Simon: I'm Scott Simon.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: And I'm Aisha Roscoe.
--:-- Andrew Craig: Andrew Craig produced today's podcast with help from Fernando Naro.
--:-- Scott Simon: Our director is Michael Radcliffe.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: Our editors are Hannah Block, Emily Kopp, Will Jarvis, Ed McNulty, and Melissa Gray, who are all wise and all smooth like butter.
--:-- Scott Simon: Hannah Glovna is our technical director with engineering support from Stacey Abbott, Andy Huther, and Arthur Halliday-Lorent.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: They put up with so much from us, and we appreciate it.
--:-- Scott Simon: Yeah, they put up with us.
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer.
--:-- Scott Simon: With help this week from Julia Redpath Louise Clemens is our deputy managing editor
--:-- Scott Simon: Tomorrow on the Sunday story A Forgotten War That's how an exhausted doctor Described the conflict in Sudan
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: And the resulting humanitarian crisis We'll hear about the country's civil war
--:-- Scott Simon: And how Sudan got to this point
--:-- Ayesha Rascoe: For more news, interviews, sports, music You can tune in to Weekend Edition on your radio.
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