npr--2020-10-23--Trump And Biden Had A Real Debate, And 4 Other Takeaways

Trump And Biden Had A Real Debate , And 4 Other Takeaways President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden met for their second and final debate as tens of millions of Americans have already voted .
A deeply divided country begins its final sprint to Election Day amid the coronavirus pandemic , and it 's unclear how many voters have yet to make up their minds .
Here are five takeaways from the debate in Nashville , Tenn. , a much different — and far more civil — night than the last encounter .
The first debate between Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overwhelmed by interruptions and cross-talk , disregard for the moderator and name-calling — all largely on the part of the president .
New rules imposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates included a mute button operated by a staffer for the CPD that turned off each candidate 's microphone for the first 2 minutes of his opponent 's speaking time at the beginning of each debate topic .
Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News skillfully kept the conversation moving .
She followed up and pressed for answers and fairly gave both candidates opportunities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Welker pushed back when the candidates attempted to run over time or tried to change the subject .
She was firm and her no-nonsense approach held the candidates to task .
Trump dropped in the polls after the first debate and got advice from Republicans to tone it down this time .
Last night he was more measured and attempted to stay on message .
Biden was also more disciplined and came prepared to address personal attacks the Trump campaign signaled beforehand it was going to make about his son Hunter 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is still the driving force in the election The 2020 election remains focused on Trump 's handling of the coronavirus , and it was the subject of Welker 's first question .
Both candidates tested negative for the coronavirus prior to entering the venue on Thursday , and those in the small audience were required to wear masks .
Members of the Trump family adhered to the rules , donning masks and appearing to keep them on after conspicuously refusing to do so during the first debate .
The two candidates ' approaches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different on the pandemic .
Biden warned a `` dark winter '' was looming and that with 220,000 Americans dead the president had failed from the outset to take control of the response to the virus .
`` Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of the America , '' Biden said .
Trump repeatedly claimed that his approach saved millions of lives and that `` we 're rounding the turn . ''
After testing positive himself following the last debate , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the disease but argued it was manageable , saying , `` I had it .
And I got better . ''
He repeated his claim that a vaccine was weeks away , but when pressed admitted : `` It 's not a guarantee . ''
Trump said `` it has a good chance by the end of the year '' to be approved , and that he had a plan lined up for the military to help distribute millions of doses .
The president attempted to pivot to the economic impact of returning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to shut down the country , saying : `` We ca n't keep this country closed .
This is a massive country with a massive economy .
People are losing their jobs . ''
Biden retorted , referring to the virus , `` He says that we 're learning to live with it .
People are learning to die with it . ''
Democrats have made the GOP effort to end Obamacare a key line of attack in the campaign , both in the presidential election and in congressional races , and it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan for the Affordable Care Act `` Bidencare '' during Thursday night 's debate .
The president vowed to protect preexisting conditions , but Biden hammered him for not presenting a plan to replace the ACA despite four years of indicating one was imminent .
The Supreme Court is slated to hear a challenge to the law brought by the Trump administration one week after the election .
As he 's done before , Biden linked health care concerns over the coronavirus pandemic to the administration 's efforts to dismantle the ACA .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ raw video from a taped interview with the CBS News program 60 Minutes where he was pressed about his position on the ACA .
Trump declared , `` I hope that they end it .
It 'll be so good if they end it . ''
And during the debate he continued to sharply criticize the ACA , which 10 years after it was implemented is more popular and has proven to be a political plus for Democrats .
`` What we 'd like to do is terminate it , '' the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terminated '' the individual mandate that required people to enroll in coverage plans or pay a fine .
The president maintained Biden 's plan amounted to socialized medicine that would threaten Medicare , the popular government health coverage for seniors .
He equated Biden 's plan with that of other Democrats who during the primary pushed for a more sweeping `` Medicare for All '' program .
But Biden disavowed those proposals , saying , `` I beat all those other people because I disagreed with them '' on health care .
Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was n't a politician , that he was a businessman who was going to Washington to `` drain the swamp . ''
He has been trying in the past couple of weeks to reprise that strategy , and to paint Biden as a corrupt Washington figure who has a 47-year career in government without much to show for it .
Even though reelection races for incumbents are usually referendums on their first terms , Trump has talked less about his own record and more about Biden 's .
Going into the debate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would home in on Biden 's son Hunter 's work with overseas businesses , arguing it led to the former vice president personally enriching himself .
The president pointed to reports in the New York Post about alleged emails from Hunter that described efforts to create a business venture in China that included money for his father and his uncle .
But the authenticity of the material cited in the news reports has not been verified — it was given to the Post by Trump 's attorney and ally , Rudy Giuliani .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
One of the Trump campaign 's guests at the debate was a man who claims to be a former business associate of Hunter Biden who said he had direct knowledge that Joe Biden was involved in his son 's business dealings and was planning to meet with Senate GOP investigators about the matter .
Biden was ready for the attack .
`` I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life , '' he said .
He argued that Trump 's focus on the Biden family was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters ' families .
The president waved off Biden 's answers as changing the subject like other `` typical politicians , '' saying , `` I 'm not a typical politician .
That 's why I got elected . ''
The president made multiple references to Biden receiving millions from foreign governments , but did n't provide any evidence to support his claims .
Biden pointed out that many of Trump 's allegations about the Biden family were proven false during the impeachment probe .
With less than two weeks before Election Day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ focus of the campaign may not connect and could have been confusing to voters because his charges were less than clear .
Also many voters are focused on the economy and health care , not on unsupported allegations of corruption .
Biden did use the exchange to bring up a New York Times report that revealed Trump himself had a Chinese bank account , which raised questions about Trump 's own tax payments to China and refusal to release his U.S. tax returns .
The president said he believed he closed the China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his returns once an IRS audit is completed .
The IRS is on record that the audit does not prevent Trump from releasing his returns now .
5 .
The debate may not matter More than 40 million people have already voted , and recent polls show a very small sliver of the electorate is persuadable this close to the election .
Even Biden appeared bored , and near the end of the debate checked his watch .
Both campaigns chiefly wanted to avoid any major mistakes in the last debate , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the final stretch will be to get out supporters and see how states process an unprecedented number of ballots from those voting early or by mail to avoid lengthy lines during a continuing national health crisis .

Trump And Biden Had A Real Debate, And 4 Other Takeaways
Enlarge this image toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden met for their second and final debate as tens of millions of Americans have already voted. A deeply divided country begins its final sprint to Election Day amid the coronavirus pandemic, and it's unclear how many voters have yet to make up their minds.
Here are five takeaways from the debate in Nashville, Tenn., a much different — and far more civil — night than the last encounter.
NPR YouTube
1. There was a real debate
The first debate between Trump and Biden was unwatchable. It was overwhelmed by interruptions and cross-talk, disregard for the moderator and name-calling — all largely on the part of the president.
New rules imposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates included a mute button operated by a staffer for the CPD that turned off each candidate's microphone for the first two minutes of his opponent's speaking time at the beginning of each debate topic.
Moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News skillfully kept the conversation moving. She followed up and pressed for answers and fairly gave both candidates opportunities to respond to the other's comments. Welker pushed back when the candidates attempted to run over time or tried to change the subject. She was firm and her no-nonsense approach held the candidates to task.
Trump dropped in the polls after the first debate and got advice from Republicans to tone it down this time. Thursday night he was more measured and attempted to stay on message. Biden was also more disciplined and came prepared to address personal attacks the Trump campaign signaled beforehand it was going to make about his son Hunter's business dealings.
2. The coronavirus is still the driving force in the election
The 2020 election remains focused on Trump's handling of the coronavirus, and it was the subject of Welker's first question. Both candidates tested negative for the coronavirus prior to entering the venue on Thursday, and those in the small audience were required to wear masks. Members of the Trump family adhered to the rules, donning masks and appearing to keep them on after conspicuously refusing to do so during the first debate.
The two candidates' approaches and attitudes could not have been more different on the pandemic. Biden warned a "dark winter" was looming and that with 220,000 Americans dead the president had failed from the outset to take control of the response to the virus.
"Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of the America," Biden said.
Trump repeatedly claimed that his approach saved millions of lives and that "we're rounding the turn." After testing positive himself following the last debate, the president acknowledged he had personal experience with the disease but argued it was manageable, saying, "I had it. And I got better."
He repeated his claim that a vaccine was weeks away, but when pressed admitted: "It's not a guarantee." Trump said "it has a good chance by the end of the year" to be approved, and that he had a plan lined up for the military to help distribute millions of doses.
The president attempted to pivot to the economic impact of returning to restrictions, arguing that Biden wanted to shut down the country, saying: "We can't keep this country closed. This is a massive country with a massive economy. People are losing their jobs."
Biden retorted, referring to the virus, "He says that we're learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it."
3. Health care debate pitted "Bidencare" versus ending Obamacare
Democrats have made the GOP effort to end Obamacare a key line of attack in the campaign, both in the presidential election and in congressional races, and it's proven effective.
Biden dubbed his plan for the Affordable Care Act "Bidencare" during Thursday night's debate.
The president vowed to protect preexisting conditions, but Biden hammered him for not presenting a plan to replace the ACA despite four years of indicating one was imminent. The Supreme Court is slated to hear a challenge to the law brought by the Trump administration one week after the election. As he's done before, Biden linked health care concerns over the coronavirus pandemic to the administration's efforts to dismantle the ACA.
Earlier on Thursday, the president released raw video from a taped interview with the CBS News program 60 Minutes where he was pressed about his position on the ACA. Trump declared, "I hope that they end it. It'll be so good if they end it." And during the debate he continued to sharply criticize the ACA, which 10 years after it was implemented is more popular and has proven to be a political plus for Democrats.
"What we'd like to do is terminate it," the president said, also noting that he "terminated" the individual mandate that required people to enroll in coverage plans or pay a fine.
The president maintained Biden's plan amounted to socialized medicine that would threaten Medicare, the popular government health coverage for seniors. He equated Biden's plan with that of other Democrats who during the primary pushed for a more sweeping "Medicare for All" program.
But Biden disavowed those proposals, saying, "I beat all those other people because I disagreed with them" on health care.
4. Trump attacked Biden as a typical politician, engaged in corruption
Trump won in 2016 in part by arguing he wasn't a politician, that he was a businessman who was going to Washington to "drain the swamp." He has been trying in the past couple of weeks to reprise that strategy, and to paint Biden as a corrupt Washington figure who has a 47-year career in government without much to show for it. Even though reelection races for incumbents are usually referendums on their first terms, Trump has talked less about his own record and more about Biden's.
Going into the debate, the Trump campaign signaled the president would home in on Biden's son Hunter's work with overseas businesses, arguing it led to the former vice president personally enriching himself. The president pointed to reports in the New York Post about alleged emails from Hunter that described efforts to create a business venture in China that included money for his father and his uncle.
But the authenticity of the material cited in the news reports has not been verified — it was given to the Post by Trump's attorney and ally, Rudy Giuliani. And Biden's campaign denies the allegations. One of the Trump campaign's guests at the debate was a man who claims to be a former business associate of Hunter Biden who said he had direct knowledge that Joe Biden was involved in his son's business dealings and was planning to meet with Senate GOP investigators about the matter.
Biden was ready for the attack. "I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life," he said. He argued that Trump's focus on the Biden family was intended to distract from the problems facing voters' families.
The president waved off Biden's answers as changing the subject like other "typical politicians," saying, "I'm not a typical politician. That's why I got elected."
The president made multiple references to Biden receiving millions from foreign governments, but didn't provide any evidence to support his claims. Biden pointed out that many of Trump's allegations about the Biden family were proven false during the impeachment probe.
With less than two weeks before Election Day, Trump's effort to change the focus of the campaign may not connect and could have been confusing to voters because his charges were less than clear. Also many voters are focused on the economy and health care, not on unsupported allegations of corruption.
Biden did use the exchange to bring up a New York Times report that revealed Trump himself had a Chinese bank account, which raised questions about Trump's own tax payments to China and refusal to release his U.S. tax returns. The president said he believed he closed the China account and claimed again he will release his returns once an IRS audit is completed. The IRS is on record that the audit does not prevent Trump from releasing his returns now.
5. The debate may not matter
More than 40 million people have already voted, and recent polls show a very small sliver of the electorate is persuadable this close to the election. Even Biden appeared bored, and near the end of the debate checked his watch.
Both campaigns chiefly wanted to avoid any major mistakes in the last debate, and both candidates delivered. Now their focus in the final stretch will be to get out supporters and see how states process an unprecedented number of ballots from those voting early or by mail to avoid lengthy lines during a continuing national health crisis.


npr--2020-10-23--When Will Mail-In Ballots Be Counted? See States' Processing Timelines

When Will Mail-In Ballots Be Counted ?
See States ' Processing Timelines A record number of voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail this year , and in most states , election officials can begin processing that deluge of ballots in the weeks before Election Day .
But in a handful of states , election workers ca n't begin the work of opening envelopes , verifying signatures and removing secrecy sleeves , let alone counting , until the day of the election .
In swing states where the margins of victory are likely to be close , those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days after the polls close before a winner is declared .
State law in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin , for example , does not allow election officials to process or count ballots until Election Day .
Michigan election workers can begin processing ballots a day in advance , but they ca n't be tabulated until Nov. 3 .
Some states and counties have purchased new technology or bolstered staffing to help tackle the huge number of mail ballots more efficiently .
While President Trump has baselessly sown doubts about mail voting and warned of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be decided on election night , election experts say delays in no way suggest a problem with the integrity of the vote .
`` If we do n't have results at 9 or 10 p.m. on election night , that does n't mean there 's anything nefarious going on , '' Rachel Rodriguez , an election official in Wisconsin , told NPR 's Miles Parks .
`` It does n't mean that there 's any sort of conspiracy .
It does n't even mean that there 's a problem .
It just means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballots and they are trying to make sure that everybody 's votes are counted . ''

When Will Mail-In Ballots Be Counted? See States' Processing Timelines
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ethan Miller/Getty Images Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Updated on Wed., Oct. 28 at 11:40 a.m. to reflect the most recent rules for processing and counting ballots, per information from each state elections office gathered by NPR.
A record number of voters are expected to cast their ballots by mail this year, and in most states, election officials can begin processing that deluge of ballots in the weeks before Election Day.
But in a handful of states, election workers can't begin the work of opening envelopes, verifying signatures and removing secrecy sleeves, let alone counting, until the day of the election. In swing states where the margins of victory are likely to be close, those rules may mean it takes hours or days after the polls close before a winner is declared.
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State law in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, does not allow election officials to process or count ballots until Election Day. Michigan election workers can begin processing ballots a day in advance, but they can't be tabulated until Nov. 3.
Some states and counties have purchased new technology or bolstered staffing to help tackle the huge number of mail ballots more efficiently.
Loading...
While President Trump has baselessly sown doubts about mail voting and warned of a national crisis should the result not be decided on election night, election experts say delays in no way suggest a problem with the integrity of the vote.
"If we don't have results at 9 or 10 p.m. on election night, that doesn't mean there's anything nefarious going on," Rachel Rodriguez, an election official in Wisconsin, told NPR's Miles Parks. "It doesn't mean that there's any sort of conspiracy. It doesn't even mean that there's a problem. It just means that clerks are still trying to count ballots and they are trying to make sure that everybody's votes are counted."


npr--2020-10-23--News Brief: Presidential Debate, Russian Hackers

President Trump and former Vice President Biden met for their final debate of the election season last night .
And @ @ @ @ @ hackers have infiltrated state and local governments .

News Brief: Presidential Debate, Russian Hackers
President Trump and former Vice President Biden met for their final debate of the election season last night. And, U.S. officials warn Russian hackers have infiltrated state and local governments.
NOEL KING, HOST:
President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden debated for a final time last night.
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And it was a far more substantive exchange of ideas compared to the first debate where President Trump continually badgered and interrupted Joe Biden. This time, the candidates answered policy questions, and they were able to convey their own messages.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: There was a very big spike in Texas. It's now gone. There was a very big spike in Arizona. It's now gone. And there were some spikes and surges in other places. They will soon be gone.
JOE BIDEN: And we're in a circumstance where the president thus far and still has no plan, no comprehensive plan. What I would do is make sure we have everyone encouraged to wear a mask all the time. I would make sure we move in the direction of rapid testing, investing in rapid testing.
TRUMP: Children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels, and they're brought here and they used to use them to get into our country. We now have as strong a border as we've ever had.
BIDEN: These 500-plus kids came with parents. They separated them at the border to make it a disincentive to come to begin with.
KING: NPR's Asma Khalid and Tamara Keith were watching the debate last night. Good morning, ladies.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning.
KING: So, Tam, there was always going to be a comparison with the first debate - right? - because of the outrageousness. The headline from last night seems to be President Trump acted with some degree of restraint.
KEITH: Yeah. You know, he had taken a lot of heat after the last debate for all of the interrupting. And his allies kept saying, you know, if you just let Biden speak, maybe he'll slip up. So Trump was more restrained this time. He resisted interrupting at times. You know, the mute button was in effect for their opening answers on each topic, which probably benefited the president. In terms of his message, he hit themes that I've heard in his stump speech - the economy was great before the coronavirus pandemic, and it will be again, Biden won't be as good for the economy as I will - these are his points - and that he's done more in 47 months than Biden has done in 47 years, the idea of Biden as a career politician. Trump came back to these ideas and attacks frequently.
KING: Asma, you cover the Biden campaign, and you have talked to us about, as Tam said, Biden really needed to not slip up last night. And a lot of people wanted to hear policy specifics from him. Did he accomplish that?
KHALID: You know, Noel, it felt to me like a very status quo debate for Joe Biden. It didn't really seem to change anything about the overall trajectory of this race. His closing argument was that, you know, I am going to be a president for people who didn't vote for me, a president for all Americans. And that is a consistent arc we have heard from him, frankly, even during the primary cycle where it might not have been as popular as a message to speak about bipartisanship. But last night, you know, he was able to speak at length about policy much more than in the first debate, in part due to those, you know, less frequent interruptions that Tam referenced, which meant that he was able to keep his focus. And I thought this was particularly salient when it came to the pandemic. At the outset in his first response, he made his pitch very clearly on COVID.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BIDEN: Two hundred twenty thousand Americans dead. You hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this - anyone who is responsible for not taking control - in fact, not saying I'm - I take no responsibility, initially - anyone who's responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America.
KING: Tam, the pandemic has been haunting Trump in these debates. Of course, he's struggled to show he has a plan. He is often not told the truth. How did he address it last night?
KEITH: Yeah. So Trump did say, I take responsibility, I blame China. You know, in many ways, his answers haven't changed since April. He shut down the border. He says it could have been worse. He says a vaccine is coming soon, though he also admitted in this debate that there's no guarantee it will be ready in the matter of weeks timeline that he's been boasting about. And he insisted, as he has so many times, that the cure can't be worse than the disease.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: We're learning to live with it. We have no choice. We can't lock ourselves up in a basement like Joe does.
KEITH: Biden was ready with a response that spoke to all of the Americans that have been killed by the virus.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BIDEN: You folks home who have an empty chair at the kitchen table this morning, that man or wife going to bed tonight and reaching over to try to touch their - out of habit, where their wife or husband was - is gone. Learning to live with it - come on. We're dying with it.
KEITH: And Trump said that he wanted schools to open. Biden said he did, too, and that they needed resources, though. And dare I say, they actually got into an exchange of ideas about how to handle this pandemic.
KING: OK. There was another thing that we were expecting in the debate. We expected that President Trump would make personal attacks against Joe Biden and his family. Did that end up happening?
KEITH: It did. The campaign had built up this idea that Trump would go after Biden for his son Hunter's foreign business dealings, including with a Ukrainian company and a Chinese company. The president definitely did get into all of that, but he didn't lay it out in a clear and cogent way that someone who hasn't been watching Fox News or reading conservative blogs would be able to follow. It was almost like he was speaking in a shorthand. Biden said that you can see that he didn't get any money from overseas because he's released his tax returns and went after Trump for not releasing them. But his main response was to say that this race for the White House shouldn't be about the Biden family or the Trump family.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Excuse me, just for one second, please.
KRISTEN WELKER: I do want to turn to - 10 seconds, Mr. President, 10 seconds.
TRUMP: That's a typical political statement. Let's get off this China thing and then he looks - the family around the table, everything - just a typical politician when I see that.
WELKER: Let's talk about North Korea now.
TRUMP: I'm not a typical politician.
WELKER: OK, President Trump.
TRUMP: That's why I got elected.
KEITH: And it's notable that after the debate, the Trump campaign held a call, and they were talking more about the career politician stuff than they were about Biden's family business deals.
KING: Asma, Biden is a career politician. He has a long record. Some of it last night he was called upon to defend.
KHALID: That's right. And, you know, Noel, throughout this campaign, Biden has run on President Obama's legacy. He's referred to his buddy Barack. So I was struck that on two big issues, health care and immigration, he tried to draw some distinctions from the Obama legacy. When he was asked why people should trust him now on immigration reform, given the record number of deportations under President Obama, he essentially said, I'll be the president, not the vice president. And on health care, you know, Biden emphasized that his vision would add a public option to the Affordable Care Act. It's a plan that he dubbed Bidencare (ph). President Trump, though, you know, he tried to refer to Biden's ideas as socialized medicine. And he repeatedly cited Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, to which Biden quipped...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BIDEN: He thinks he's running against somebody else. He's running against Joe Biden. I beat all those other people because I disagreed with them. Joe Biden he's running against.
KEITH: And this is Tam just jumping in. President Trump did get something that he wanted in this debate, something that he and his people are talking about now. It came in an exchange about climate change and energy. He was looking for Biden to say something that he could use to paint him as too far to the left. And Biden talked about a slow transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Would you close down the oil industry?
BIDEN: I would transition from the oil industry, yes. I would transition.
TRUMP: Oh, that's a big statement...
BIDEN: It is a big statement...
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: ...Because I would stop...
WELKER: Why would you do that?
BIDEN: Because the oil industry pollutes significantly.
TRUMP: Oh, I see.
BIDEN: Here's the deal...
TRUMP: That's a big statement.
BIDEN: Well, if you let me finish the statement - because it has to be replaced by renewable energy over time, over time. And I'd stop giving - to the oil industry, I'd stop giving them federal subsidies.
KEITH: Trump immediately jumped in and was like, hey, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, are you listening? Though, actually, a poll from August found that a narrow majority of voters in Pennsylvania oppose fracking. And Biden, for his part, is looking for a big turnout from young voters who care a lot about climate change. That said, the Biden campaign quickly said, no, no, no. He's not saying we're going away from fossil fuel entirely. He just wants to end the subsidies to the industry.
KING: NPR's Asma Khalid and Tamara Keith, thanks to you both for your reporting.
KEITH: You're welcome.
KHALID: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KING: All right. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning yesterday.
MARTIN: Yeah. They said Russian hackers have infiltrated U.S. state and local computer networks, which in some cases gave them access to voting and election data. Remember earlier this week, the intelligence community said Iran is trying to mess around in the election, too, sending threatening emails to voters. Now, to be clear, there is no evidence that either government has actually changed people's votes.
KING: NPR's Miles Parks covers election security and is back for a second day. Good morning, Miles.
MILES PARKS, BYLINE: Hi there.
KING: What do intelligence agencies say Russian hackers did?
PARKS: They say they've broken into the county servers of at least two U.S. counties. And in one case, they used that access to take some - what seems to be publicly available voter information. Now, the hacks were formally announced yesterday, but as is usual in these sorts of cases, officials did not say where they occurred. But The Washington Post reported last night that they occurred in California and Indiana.
KING: OK. So notable here that it is publicly available information, compelling us to ask, what could hackers actually do with access to publicly available information?
PARKS: Yeah. As was mentioned, I think the most important thing is to think about what they couldn't do in this instance. The head of the Department of Homeland Security's cyber arm said yesterday the hackers did not get anywhere near anyone's vote or the systems that tally those votes. Basically, these hackers, which are from a Russian hacking group, a notable one, sometimes known as Energetic Bear or FireFly, they broke into these county government systems. And the networks were such that they could then laterally move within different county government offices, which gave them access to some of this voting data. But it's not clear at this point that the intention of these hacks was actually to gain access to that sort of data, considering the targeting was so much broader. They tried a lot of different networks in the government and aviation sectors. Now, this is really different than what we saw in 2016, for instance, when there were targeted attacks specifically of voter registration systems in a number of states. We have not heard about that sort of targeting yet in this election, although these attacks are still really worrisome for these officials who fear what Russia could do around the election if they do have access to these sorts of county systems.
KING: So what's the federal government doing about it?
PARKS: The biggest thing is just talking to voters about it this time. So that way, if these hacking groups do use this access to, say, deface an elections website or mess with a results display page in the time after the election to show a different winner than actually won on election night, voters know how to differentiate between that and actually affecting election results, the underlying numbers. That kind of interference is aimed at Americans' confidence in the legitimacy of the election, with the hope of making some voters doubt that the results are legit, basically. Officials are trying to avoid that by getting out in front and disclosing the breaches now telling voters what to expect.
KING: NPR's Miles Parks. Thanks again for your reporting, Miles. We appreciate it.
PARKS: Thank you.
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npr--2020-10-23--Former FDA Commissioner Discusses Updates On COVID-19 Vaccine Research Efforts

Rachel Martin speaks with former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan about this week 's FDA advisory panel @ @ @ @ @

FDA COVID-19 Vaccine Process Is 'Thoughtful And Deliberate,' Says Former FDA Head
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mannie Garcia/Reuters Mannie Garcia/Reuters
The Food and Drug Administration's sprint toward approving a COVID-19 vaccine does not mean the government is "cutting corners" or shorting safety, said Dr. Mark McClellan, former FDA commissioner under George W. Bush.
McClellan observed Thursday's FDA advisory panel on COVID-19 vaccine research, where independent experts offered advice on the way forward. Later that day, President Trump fueled fears that a vaccine is being rushed when he promised at a presidential debate to have "a vaccine that's coming, it's ready, it's going to be announced within weeks."
McClellan told NPR's Morning Edition that after Thursday's advisory meeting, Americans should feel confident in the FDA's approach toward a vaccine.
"I think people for the most part — the experts, the others listening — found it very reassuring to know that even though FDA is going fast, it's not cutting corners. And it's trying to be very thoughtful and deliberate about getting the evidence needed before the vaccine becomes available — even the people in the highest risk groups, like health care workers and people living in nursing homes," McClellan said.
As NPR reported Friday, the advisory panel was largely supportive of the agency's approach for reviewing vaccines, though some members did have concerns about the expedited regulatory path.
McClellan predicted that early availability for a vaccine might come later this year with large-scale access in the spring or summer. He is on the board of Johnson & Johnson, which is working on a COVID-19 vaccine.
Here are excerpts from the Morning Edition conversation:
How do you begin to bridge that trust gap [for people who don't trust the expedited process]?
The tension between trying to make decisions that get products available quickly, especially when there's such a big unmet medical need, versus taking the time to get all the evidence, that's a tension that FDA lives with every day in the areas of new medical product development.
I think what's different here is that there is so much at stake. This is a vaccine that would be potentially used by tens, hundreds of millions of Americans to help us get out of the pandemic and it's also occurring at a time when there's been a lot of politics involved. And I think the net effect of the politics, coupled with the fact that we are really taking steps faster — not necessarily cutting corners — but taking steps faster to make a vaccine available, that's increased this level of tension in the public.
Is there a chance that Americans would have more than one vaccine available to them?
There is a chance they will have more than one vaccine. There are six vaccines that the federal government is really backing. And the reason things are going so much faster is that these very large clinical trials to test whether the vaccines work or not are happening at the same time as the government, working with the manufacturers, are going ahead with very large-scale manufacturing.
So it's not really cutting corners so much as making what's normally a very long linear process a parallel one.
So there will be lots of vaccine available — not for everybody, but for lots of doses when these trials are done. ...
That said, people are worried that there is enough safety data available. ... It's important to know that this is not the last step in the process. There will be another meeting like this before any particular vaccine gets considered for approval, so more chances to make sure we're doing this right.
Ryan Benk and Steve Mullis produced and edited the audio interview. Heidi Glenn adapted it for the Web.


npr--2020-10-23--Pompeo To Meet With Azerbaijan And Armenia's Foreign Ministers Amid Fierce Conflict

Pompeo To Meet With Azerbaijan And Armenia 's Foreign Ministers Amid Fierce Conflict The U.S. Secretary of State is holding @ @ @ @ @ ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on Friday , in an effort to halt @ @ @ @ @

Pompeo To Meet With Azerbaijan And Armenia's Foreign Ministers Amid Fierce Conflict
The U.S. Secretary of State is holding separate talks with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on Friday, in an effort to halt the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.
NOEL KING, HOST:
This morning the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo here in Washington for diplomatic talks. They will not, however, meet him together. They refuse to be in the same room. The two former Soviet republics are fighting over a contested region. NPR's Moscow correspondent Lucian Kim has been following this one. Hi, Lucian.
LUCIAN KIM, BYLINE: Good morning.
KING: The place at the center of this conflict is called Nagorno-Karabakh. And this is not a new fight, is it?
KIM: No, not at all. Nagorno-Karabakh is located in the Caucasus Mountains. This is a region that serves as a land bridge between Russia and the Middle East. And it's also a place where Russia, Turkey and Iran have historically vied for influence. Now, the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh goes back to the last days of the Soviet Union, when a lot of ethnic groups inside the Soviet Union were demanding independence. Among those were the Armenians living in Azerbaijan in a region called Nagorno-Karabakh.
Those Armenians fought a bloody war of secession and prevailed. And for the last 26 years, that's more or less been the status quo, although there have been scattered flare-ups. Armenians now say they're fighting a war of national survival. Azerbaijanis say they want to retake control of land that is inside their internationally recognized borders. One reason the Azerbaijanis feel empowered now is that they're getting a lot of support from Turkey.
KING: OK. So let's talk about where this stands. We've said these two men won't sit down together. We've called it a conflict. Are Armenia and Azerbaijan openly fighting?
KIM: Well, technically, they are fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. We are now in the fourth week of renewed fighting. But both sides are reporting continued fighting on the frontline. The Azerbaijani side is claiming to be taking control of Nagorno-Karabakh slowly but surely. Russia has tried to broker a couple of cease-fires, but they haven't held. Azerbaijan doesn't publicize the number of its casualties, but the Armenian side reports 900 soldiers killed in action. Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to his information, close to 5,000 people have already been killed.
KING: OK. So we have Russia involved. We have the U.S. involved, suggesting that there is something much broader at stake here than just this relatively small region.
KIM: This is a very dangerous conflict because Turkey has become involved on the side of Azerbaijan. And officially, Russia has a defense pact with Armenia. But so far, Putin is still treading very carefully and trying to present himself as a mediator. Where the U.S. comes in is that together with Russia and France, these three countries have been heading a peace process since the 1990s. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have good relations with the United States, and that's why we see their foreign ministers coming to Washington today. But if you talk to Azerbaijanis, they say that more than 20 years of talks haven't yielded a resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and they've stopped believing in diplomacy.
KING: NPR's Lucian Kim in Moscow. Thanks, Lucian.
KIM: Thanks, Noel.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-23--Breaking Down Last Night's Presidential Debate

NPR 's Rachel Martin looks back at last night 's debate with Democratic strategist Karen Finney and Republican strategist Scott @ @

Breaking Down Thursday Night's Presidential Debate
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
All right. We're going to turn now to our team of political strategists to get their take on what happened last night. We heard from Democratic political strategist Karen Finney and Republican strategist Scott Jennings yesterday ahead of the debate. And they are here again this morning. Good morning to you both.
KAREN FINNEY: Good morning.
SCOTT JENNINGS: Good morning.
MARTIN: So, Scott, I want to start with you. You said yesterday you thought the mute feature, the ability to mute the candidates at different intervals, could actually work in Trump's favor. You called it a medicine that would help him because it would let him make his economic argument. Did it work? Did that happen?
JENNINGS: Yeah, it's always fun being right.
(LAUGHTER)
JENNINGS: And Donald Trump last night, you know, whether it was the mute button or whether it was his own personal self-control, finally, he actually let Joe Biden talk. And I think it also let Donald Trump think about what he wanted to say next, which then caused them to actually have a choice sort of a debate over policy, which is the way Trump's always needed this election to be framed up. Now, it's late. A lot of folks have already voted or made up their minds. But finally, for one night, we actually had a debate over policy, and Donald Trump sounded pretty good.
MARTIN: So, Karen, what do you make of that? Because some Republicans or supporters of President Trump had reportedly said, you know, we just need to hear Joe Biden speak, that he'll essentially - if you give him a long enough piece of rope, that he'll hang himself, he'll make some kind of gaffe. What did you make of having the space that moved between them and the ability to let them both talk, did it work to Biden's favor?
FINNEY: Well, I think it actually worked to both of their favor. I'm willing to say that. And congratulations, Scott. I thought of you actually (laughter) when he was being so disciplined. I thought, did Scott actually talk to him? Because he really - you know, and it does matter. I mean, look, my other critique, obviously, most importantly of President Trump's performance was that a lot of what he said was still untrue. But, you know, one of the things as a communicator we know is that the tone and the style of what you say matters. And I certainly think the space between them allowed for more of a conversation. I certainly thought that Vice President Biden also had an excellent night in that, you know, he was able to be clearly talking about substance as well. I think a number of the hits from President Trump really didn't seem to land quite so well. And there were a couple of pretty cringeworthy moments, like the conversation about children who had been separated from their parents, that, despite his demeanor, I don't think worked well for Trump and I think, you know, again, gave Biden the space to actually have a comment about that instead of just, you know, the kind of behavior we saw in the first debate.
MARTIN: So I want to ask about one particular moment. The moderator, Kristen Welker of NBC, asked President Trump what he would say to Americans who have not liked how he has talked about race or seemed to exacerbate racial divides in this country. And this is how he responded. Let's play this tape.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln - possible exception - but the exception of Abraham Lincoln, nobody has done what I've done.
MARTIN: I mean, do Republicans believe that, Scott? It discounts the actions of several previous presidents, I mean, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, ending segregation.
JENNINGS: Yeah. I mean, I could do without the bravado and the hyperbole about Abraham Lincoln. However, if you listen, that entire exchange, Donald Trump actually does have a story to tell. When you talk about criminal justice reform and his support of the historically Black colleges and universities, the economic numbers pre-COVID, he has a story to tell. And then he pivoted and said, what did you do while you were in office for the last eight years under Obama for your 47-year career? And I actually - take out the hyperbole about Lincoln, which, by the way, has always been patently ridiculous. The story he could tell about what he did - not too bad. So aside from that, I was happy with the case he brought on that.
MARTIN: Karen?
FINNEY: Yeah, I don't - I'm willing to grant you that, Scott, but we're living - we're in a situation where one in 1,000 African Americans have died from COVID. And so where we are, our current situation is incredibly dire for Black America. And I think you can't also discount - I mean, you know, one of the problems with Donald Trump is that he will take credit for things that he's done, but then he doesn't want to take responsibility for the other part of it, which is you haven't - you won't denounce white nationalists, white supremacists. And what climate does that - I can say as a Black person, the climate that that has created feels incredibly dangerous. So I think there are - you know, the point being that there's more to the story. He certainly did an effective job telling one part of the story but then, you know, within that questioning was unwilling and unable to take responsibility. What he did with the Central Park Five is meaningful and it was horrible. And so you can't take one without the other.
MARTIN: In the moments we have remaining, I want to ask about the closing argument that each candidate made last night in response to a question from Kristen Welker about - you know, in your inaugural address, she said, what would you say to Americans who didn't vote for you? Scott, what did you think about the president's response, and then Karen? Just briefly.
JENNINGS: I think he closed up fine. I mean, obviously, you know, people who aren't voting for him, they're not likely to change their mind. I thought he closed up just fine. I mean, that's - questions like that are never going to be his strong suit. But overall, that answer, plus everything else, I thought he turned in a good performance and that was a decent capper.
MARTIN: Karen?
FINNEY: Yeah, with Vice President Biden, I thought, again, he went right to what this race has been about for him and I think for so many in the country have really come to realize that this idea of the soul of the country, the idea of having a president who is the president for everyone and trying to do healing, which really matters. And frankly, it's what people are craving at this point in the country. So it was a great performance and a great answer.
MARTIN: Karen Finney, Democratic strategist, Scott Jennings on the Republican side, thanks to you both. We appreciate it.
FINNEY: Thank you.
JENNINGS: Thank you.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-23--Voters React To The Last Presidential Debate Before November's Election

Voters React To The Last Presidential Debate Before November 's Election The presidential candidates had a final chance to persuade @ @ @ @ @ at last night 's debate .
What did voters hear ?

Voters React To The Last Presidential Debate Before November's Election
The presidential candidates had a final chance to persuade Americans to vote for them at last night's debate. What did voters hear?
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The presidential candidates met last night in Nashville for their final debate of the election season. Quick overall review - less yelling, more policy. What did voters make of it?
ALEXANDER VASQUEZ: They actually were pretty evenly matched. I was sort of surprised at the restraint that Trump was able to convey this time around, especially after the first debate, which was such a chaotic spectacle.
MARTIN: Alexander Vasquez (ph) of Boston has already voted for Biden. But he was impressed by Trump's performance last night.
VASQUEZ: And I sort of felt like, you know, as somebody who's supporting Biden throughout this, that he did, like, a fine job of actually standing up to Trump and sort of hitting him with facts. That being said, I do think Trump did a much better job of getting his point across. And there were some moments in which I thought he might've had the edge as well.
NOEL KING, HOST:
All right. So more than 47 million people have already voted - Vasquez is one of them - which means the number of people who can still be persuaded one way or another is shrinking. Katie Carnes (ph) in Salem, Ore., is one of them. She is still undecided.
KATIE CARNES: I feel like there was a lot of opportunities for both candidates to address questions whether they chose to answer them or not.
KING: She was relieved there was less bickering this time around.
CARNES: This is also why I have moved towards being independent. I'm tired of the fighting.
MARTIN: The final question of the night was what each candidate would say to Americans who didn't vote for them. Carnes thought Trump didn't manage to, quote, "give a solid pitch to the audience." Veronica Williams (ph) of Phoenix, Ariz., paid close attention to that last question, too.
VERONICA WILLIAMS: Biden did a better job explaining a little bit more of what his plan would be to unify the country. I don't think Trump did anything to make it clear that he sees United States as unity, as a full country.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-23--U.S. Officials Say Russian Hackers Targeted State And Local Governments

U.S. Officials Say Russian Hackers Targeted State And Local Governments U.S. officials said yesterday in a statement that a Russian @ @ @ @ @ a campaign against a wide variety of U.S. targets '' since September 2020 .

U.S. Officials Say Russian Hackers Targeted State And Local Governments
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Russian hackers have infiltrated U.S. state and local computer networks, which in some cases gave them access to voting and election data. That's what the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned yesterday. Remember, earlier this week, we learned about Iranian and Russian efforts to dispute the election by sending threatening emails to voters. To be clear, there is no evidence that either government has changed people's votes. NPR's Miles Parks covers election security and is with us this morning. Hi, Miles.
MILES PARKS, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Rachel.
MARTIN: What did Russian hackers do, exactly?
PARKS: So they've broken into the county servers of at least two U.S. counties. And in one case, they used that access to take some what seems like publicly available voter information. The hacks were formally announced yesterday, but as is usual in these sorts of cybersecurity cases, the government did not disclose where the hacks actually occurred. But The Washington Post reported last night they were county systems in California and Indiana.
MARTIN: All right. So hackers have figured out how to get into American systems, at least these systems. What could they do once they're in there?
PARKS: I think it's important to start with what they couldn't do, which - the Department of Homeland Security did a big job yesterday of saying that over and over again, that there's no evidence that hackers got anywhere near anyone's votes or the systems that tally those votes. Basically, these hackers, which are from this pretty notable Russian hacking group, sometimes known as Energetic Bear or Firefly - they broke into these county government systems, and the networks were such that they could then laterally move within a number of different local government offices, which gave them access to some of this voting data. But it's not clear that the intention was actually to gain access to that sort of data, considering the targeting was actually much broader.
They tried lots of different networks in the government and aviation sectors. It's important to note this is really different than what we saw in 2016, when there were targeted attacks specifically at voter registration systems in a number of states. We have not heard about that sort of thing in this election yet, although these attacks that we're hearing about yesterday are still really worrisome for officials who fear what Russia could do around the election if they do have access to these sorts of county systems.
MARTIN: So what's the federal government doing about it?
PARKS: The biggest thing is actually talking to voters about it this time. So that way, you know, if these hacking groups do use this access to, say, deface an elections website or mess with the results display page to show a different winner on Election Day than actually won, voters know how to differentiate between that presentation hack and actually affecting the underlying election results, affecting the actual winner of the election. This kind of interference is aimed at Americans' confidence in the legitimacy of the vote with the hope of making some voters doubt the results. Officials are basically trying to avoid that lack of confidence by getting out in front of it, disclosing the breaches now and telling voters, you know, what to look out for potentially - not saying this is definitely going to happen but just saying, hey, they have this access. They could potentially try to mess with election confidence in this way.
MARTIN: Just real quick, odds are this kind of interference isn't going to subside after this election, right? Did we learn anything in last night's debate about how President Trump or Joe Biden might respond to this threat moving forward?
PARKS: I don't know that we learned anything new, necessarily. We got the same kind of claims from President Trump that he's the toughest president on Russia despite, you know, for years, he has questioned the intelligence around the 2016 election interference. Biden obviously disagreed with that assessment. He noted what US election officials said this summer, which is that there was a Ukrainian lawmaker the U.S. government has now deemed a Russian asset...
MARTIN: Yeah.
PARKS: ...Who met with one of Trump's closest advisers, Rudy Giuliani. He says he'll punish Russia if it interferes. But, you know, it's not clear how he'll do that.
MARTIN: NPR's Miles Parks. Thanks, Miles.
PARKS: Thank you.
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-23--Openly Gay Catholic Priest Discusses Pope Francis' Appeal For LGBTQ Protections

Rachel Martin speaks with Fr .
Bryan Massingale , priest and professor at Fordham University , about Pope Francis ' @ @ @ @ @ LGBTQ people to civil unions .

Openly Gay Catholic Priest Discusses Pope Francis' Appeal For LGBTQ Protections
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This week, a documentary came out that shows Pope Francis endorsing civil unions for same-sex couples. Now, his remarks in this film do not mean a change in Catholic doctrine, but they do signify a major change in how any pope has talked about this issue. So what's this going to mean for the LGBTQ community of Catholics? I asked Father Bryan Massingale what he thought when he first heard the pope's remarks. He's an openly gay Catholic priest.
BRYAN MASSINGALE: I was actually very excited and even jubilant, I have to say. I was very, very pleased to hear the pope make this kind of endorsement of civil unions for gay and lesbian persons. The pope is grounding his call for civil recognition and protection in the right to a family. And he says that gay and lesbian persons have the right to a family and a right to a family life. And this is important in the Catholic world because we believe that the right to a family is a fundamental human right that people have by virtue of being human. And so in this call for the civil recognition and protection of gay civil unions, it's really an affirmation of the humanity of gay and lesbian persons - that he's saying that because gay and lesbian persons are human beings, that society, that the state, that governments have an obligation and a duty to protect their basic human rights.
MARTIN: Does extending the right to a civil union and acknowledging that LGBTQ people should be allowed to have a partner in their life through a civil union and a family - does that mean children?
MASSINGALE: Absolutely. Absolutely. Pope Francis first made this kind of affirmation when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires before he became pope. Now, it may seem to be a semantic difference, but I think what the pope is saying is that he is not opposed to the legal recognition of family life and the right for gay and lesbian persons to raise and have families.
MARTIN: As a gay Catholic yourself, I mean, as a man of faith, as a Catholic, is it somehow less significant, I would imagine, a civil union than being able to be married in the church?
MASSINGALE: Yes. I personally - and I know many others, gay and lesbian persons and those who are allies and who love us - would want the church to be able to one day recognize the loving commitments of LGBTQ persons in the sacrament of marriage. And, in fact, those kind of conversations are going on right now in the church. In fact, the German-speaking bishops, the bishops of Germany and Austria, are at the forefront of the kind of discussion about, how can the church extend a blessing or a recognition to same-sex committed unions? I see this as a necessary step in the evolution of the church's thinking on same-sex issues. Some people would say, well, this is, like, too little too late. But I think that we need as Catholics to step back and say the Catholic Church is a global church with a global reach. And in many places around the world, LGBTQ people have far less legal recognition and protection of their rights than they do in the United States. We have to remember that homosexuality is still criminalized in over 70 countries. And in five or six countries, it's a behavior that's punishable by death. And what the pope is doing with this kind of declaration - he's clearly putting the Catholic Church on the side of against the criminalization of behavior and in favor of protecting the human dignity of gay and lesbian persons.
MARTIN: But help me understand this because it's my understanding that the Catholic Church still considers homosexuality to be a sin, not something that should be encouraged in a lifestyle. You know, there's the idea of forgiveness. If you think of your sexual orientation as as something you need to ask forgiveness for, that's OK. But to live in "sin," quote, unquote - that that's not acceptable in the church's eyes.
MASSINGALE: He has not changed church teaching regarding behavior or conduct. He still would see that as being morally problematic. However, he goes back to his question, do we focus on behavior, or do we focus on persons? And even sinful persons still have human rights that we're all called to respect and to protect.
MARTIN: What does this change, if anything, right now for queer Catholics?
MASSINGALE: I think for queer Catholics, it's a sign of hope that the church can change. It can grow. It can evolve. I think it's also a sign of hope that especially in places where LGBTQ persons are more actively persecuted, this is a sign of hope that that kind of persecution cannot be reconciled with the Christian faith. In this country, there have been efforts to say that Catholics, Catholic institutions can't be involved or in the adoption - or allowing gay and lesbian parents to adopt children. And I think that this really gives a different lens for that kind of conversation that goes on in the Catholic Church in that we're basically saying that, no, gay and lesbian persons can, you know, have a right to a family. They can be parents. I think this calls upon Catholics in the United States to have a different approach when we talk about religious liberty and the rights of Catholic institutions and whether Catholic institutions can maintain that same-sex couples cannot be adoptive parents. So I think that's a very concrete effect that the pope's remarks will have here in the United States.
MARTIN: Father Brian Massingale - he's a theologian at Fordham University. Thank you so much for your time.
MASSINGALE: Thank you. It was a pleasure being with you.
(SOUNDBITE OF NIKLAS PASCHBURG'S "IF")
Copyright © 2020 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.


npr--2020-10-22--Money Tracker: How Much Trump And Biden Have Raised In The 2020 Election

Money Tracker : How Much Trump And Biden Have Raised In The 2020 Election Updated on October .
22 at 11:55 p.m .
ET Which presidential candidate has the fundraising advantage ?
Here 's how much money the campaigns of President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have raised so far , according to their Federal Election Commission filings .
( Keep in mind that Trump 's reelection campaign had a fundraising head start . )
This tracker will be updated with each monthly report , prior to the general election .
Of course , the universe of campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ candidate raises alone .
Each party has its own committee to help elect a president , which can work in concert with the official campaign and further contributes to the war chest .
And campaigns often announce those joint fundraising totals before filing their FEC paperwork , so what this tracker has and what the campaign says can differ .
Also , groups like super PACs , which can raise and spend unlimited amounts , can help or hurt the fortunes of a presidential nominee .
On both Biden 's and Trump 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tens of millions of dollars on their own .
Do n't see the graphics in this story ?
Click here .
This story was originally published on May 20 , 2020 .

Money Tracker: How Much Trump And Biden Have Raised In The 2020 Election
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Updated on December 4 at 8:35 a.m. ET
Which presidential candidate has the fundraising advantage?
Here's how much money the campaigns of President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden raised, according to their Federal Election Commission filings. (Keep in mind that Trump's reelection campaign had a fundraising head start.)
This is the final update, reflecting contributions through November 23.
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Of course, the universe of campaign finance is far bigger than what one candidate raises alone. Each party has its own committee to help elect a president, which can work in concert with the official campaign and further contributes to the war chest.
And campaigns often announce those joint fundraising totals before filing their FEC paperwork, so what this tracker has and what the campaign says can differ.
Also, groups like super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts, can help or hurt the fortunes of a presidential nominee. On both Biden's and Trump's sides, these independent groups have raised tens of millions of dollars on their own.
Loading...
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Don't see the graphics in this story? Click here.
This story was originally published on May 20, 2020.
Photos: Gage Skidmore/Flickr


npr--2020-10-22--Uber And Lyft Must Make Drivers Employees, California Court Rules

A California appeals court says Uber and Lyft must classify their drivers as employees rather than independent contractors , siding with a lower court that found the ride-hailing companies were likely violating state labor law .
The ruling is a blow to Uber and Lyft , which argue that the law does not apply to them .
Both companies previously threatened to leave the state if forced to make their drivers employees .
But there 's time , because the California law remains effectively on hold for Lyft and Uber .
The appeals court on Thursday ordered the ride-sharing companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 30 days after the case is sent back to the trial court .
Before then , the companies can appeal to the California Supreme Court .
Uber , Lyft and allies spend nearly $ 200 million on ballot measure In the meantime , California voters may decide on the law 's future because it 's on the November ballot .
A measure backed by the companies , Proposition 22 , would allow ride-hailing and food delivery apps to keep their drivers as independent contractors , while giving them limited benefits but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Together with other app companies , Uber and Lyft have poured nearly $ 200 million into promoting the measure , blitzing drivers and voters with messages and making it the most expensive ballot campaign in state history .
A University of California , Berkeley poll released in late September found 39 % of likely voters supported the measure , 36 % opposed it , and a quarter were undecided .
`` This ruling makes it more urgent than ever for voters to stand with drivers and vote yes on Prop .
22 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Thursday .
`` Today 's ruling means that if the voters do n't say Yes on Proposition 22 , rideshare drivers will be prevented from continuing to work as independent contractors , putting hundreds of thousands of Californians out of work and likely shutting down ridesharing throughout much of the state , '' said Uber spokesperson Matt Kallman .
Both companies said they are considering their legal options .
State and cities say law gives workers labor protections The state of California and the cities of San Francisco , San Diego and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ May to force them to comply with the state law , which gives gig workers more labor protections , such as access to employer-sponsored health insurance , overtime pay and paid sick leave .
The lawsuit says the companies could be on the hook for `` hundreds of millions of dollars '' in penalties and restitution to drivers .
Uber and Lyft maintain that the law does not apply to them , saying they are not transportation businesses but tech platforms .
The companies — neither of which turns a profit — save @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because they do not provide benefits or pay into state unemployment insurance systems .
The companies warn that converting drivers to employees would mean they would employ far fewer drivers in California and likely raise prices .
Many drivers say they want to keep the flexible work schedules that the independent contractor status allows , which the companies say may not be possible if they are employees .
But other drivers say they want the labor law 's protections .
In August , a trial court judge ruled that there was an `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ win its case , and ordered Uber and Lyft to comply while the trial continued .
Thursday 's ruling upheld that order .
`` Californians have fought long and hard for paycheck and benefit protections .
Uber and Lyft have used their muscle and clout to resist treating their drivers as workers entitled to those paycheck and benefit protections , '' said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Thursday .
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera also welcomed the appeals court 's ruling , saying : `` This decision makes it abundantly clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the law for years .
The only thing 'radical ' and 'unprecedented ' is the scope of Uber and Lyft 's misconduct .
This is a victory for the people of California and for every driver who has been denied fair wages , paid sick days , and other benefits by these companies . ''
Editor 's note : Uber and Lyft are among NPR 's financial supporters .

Uber And Lyft Must Make Drivers Employees, California Court Rules
Enlarge this image toggle caption Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
A California appeals court says Uber and Lyft must classify their drivers as employees rather than independent contractors, siding with a lower court that found the ride-hailing companies were likely violating state labor law.
The ruling is a blow to Uber and Lyft, which argue that the law does not apply to them. Both companies previously threatened to leave the state if forced to make their drivers employees.
But there's time, because the California law remains effectively on hold for Lyft and Uber. The appeals court on Thursday ordered the ride-sharing companies to reclassify drivers, but not for at least 30 days after the case is sent back to the trial court. Before then, the companies can appeal to the California Supreme Court.
Uber, Lyft and allies spend nearly $200 million on ballot measure
In the meantime, California voters may decide on the law's future because it's on the November ballot. A measure backed by the companies, Proposition 22, would allow ride-hailing and food delivery apps to keep their drivers as independent contractors while giving them limited benefits but not the full protections of employment status.
Together with other app companies, Uber and Lyft have poured nearly $200 million into promoting the measure, blitzing drivers and voters with messages and making it the most expensive ballot campaign in state history. A University of California, Berkeley poll released in late September found 39% of likely voters supported the measure, 36% opposed it, and a quarter were undecided.
"This ruling makes it more urgent than ever for voters to stand with drivers and vote yes on Prop. 22," Lyft spokesperson Julie Wood said Thursday.
"Today's ruling means that if the voters don't say Yes on Proposition 22, rideshare drivers will be prevented from continuing to work as independent contractors, putting hundreds of thousands of Californians out of work and likely shutting down ridesharing throughout much of the state," Uber spokesperson Matt Kallman said.
Both companies said they are considering their legal options.
State and cities say law gives workers labor protections
The state of California and the cities of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles sued Uber and Lyft in May to force them to comply with the state law, which gives gig workers more labor protections, such as access to employer-sponsored health insurance, overtime pay and paid sick leave. The lawsuit says the companies could be on the hook for "hundreds of millions of dollars" in penalties and restitution to drivers.
Uber and Lyft maintain that the law does not apply to them, saying they are not transportation businesses but tech platforms. The companies — neither of which turns a profit — save money by treating drivers as independent contractors because they do not provide benefits or pay into state unemployment insurance systems.
The companies warn that converting drivers to employees would mean they would employ far fewer drivers in California and likely raise prices.
Many drivers say they want to keep the flexible work schedules that the independent contractor status allows, which the companies say may not be possible if they are employees. But other drivers say they want the labor law's protections.
In August, a trial court judge ruled there was an "overwhelming likelihood" that the government would win its case and ordered Uber and Lyft to comply while the trial continued. Thursday's ruling upheld that order.
"Californians have fought long and hard for paycheck and benefit protections. Uber and Lyft have used their muscle and clout to resist treating their drivers as workers entitled to those paycheck and benefit protections," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Thursday.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera also welcomed the appeals court's ruling, saying: "This decision makes it abundantly clear that Uber and Lyft have been breaking the law for years. The only thing 'radical' and 'unprecedented' is the scope of Uber and Lyft's misconduct. This is a victory for the people of California and for every driver who has been denied fair wages, paid sick days, and other benefits by these companies."
Editor's note: Uber and Lyft are among NPR's financial supporters.


npr--2020-10-22--Watch: Final Trump-Biden Presidential Debate

Updated Friday at 12:35 a.m .
ET President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden faced off for the last time Thursday night in Nashville .
It was the final time the candidates could make their pitch to voters while sharing the debate stage before voting concludes on Nov. 3 .
Kristen Welker of NBC News moderated in front of an in-person audience at Belmont University .
All audience members were be required to wear masks .
The debate was divided into six 15-minute segments on topics set by the moderator : COVID-19 , American families , race in America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leadership .
Under new rules announced Monday by the Commission on Presidential Debates , each candidate had two minutes of uninterrupted time at the top of every segment to answer Welker 's questions .
The other candidate 's mic was muted during this time , a change the commission made after a widely criticized first presidential debate that was marked by constant interruption .
With Biden holding a 10-point lead over Trump in an average of national polls , Thursday 's debate is one of the president 's last chances to shift the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that just 5 % of voters are still persuadable .
And according to the United States Elections Project at the University of Florida , more than 47 million people have already voted .

Watch: Final Trump-Biden Presidential Debate
PBS NewsHour via YouTube
Updated Friday at 12:35 a.m. ET
President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden faced off for the last time Thursday night in Nashville. It was the final time the candidates could make their pitch to voters while sharing the debate stage before voting concludes on Nov. 3.
Kristen Welker of NBC News moderated in front of an in-person audience at Belmont University. All audience members were be required to wear masks.
The debate was divided into six 15-minute segments on topics set by the moderator: COVID-19, American families, race in America, climate change, national security and leadership.
Under new rules announced Monday by the Commission on Presidential Debates, each candidate had two minutes of uninterrupted time at the top of every segment to answer Welker's questions. The other candidate's mic was muted during this time, a change the commission made after a widely criticized first presidential debate that was marked by constant interruption.
With Biden holding a 10-point lead over Trump in an average of national polls, Thursday's debate is one of the president's last chances to shift the momentum of the race.
A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that just 5% of voters are still persuadable. And according to the United States Elections Project at the University of Florida, more than 47 million people have already voted.


npr--2020-10-23--Over 120,000 People Remain Displaced 3 Years After Philippines' Marawi Battle

The last time Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum saw his ancestral home standing was three years ago .
The spacious three-story concrete house in his hometown of Marawi , on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao , was built in 1971 .
Pacasum , a 37-year-old political aide , still remembers the smell of the large living room .
`` It had a distinctive old wood smell and visitors sometimes imagine it as a haunted house because of the large painting displayed in the center of the sala [ living room ] , '' he says .
`` I miss it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of living out his life in that house were upended when his neighborhood was devastated in the battle of Marawi — a five-months-long firefight between Philippine government security forces and militant groups affiliated with the Islamic State .
Starting in May 2017 , the government forces , with support from the United States and other countries , carried out heavy bombing of the city to drive out the insurgents , leaving Marawi in ruins and more than 1,000 people killed .
The United Nations says 98 % of Marawi 's population of nearly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearby municipalities , were displaced by the fighting .
Pacasum says his family wanted to stay in their home .
But when rumors began circulating that the area would be bombed , much of the family evacuated the city .
His brother , Saripada `` Tong '' Pacasum , headed the provincial risk management office at the time and stayed behind to help rescue survivors .
The siege ended on Oct. 23 , 2017 — but now , three years later , much of the population is still displaced and asking when their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government has since promised to fully rehabilitate the city by late 2021 .
Yet , while some reconstruction has started , Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum says , `` from the looks of it , the only thing that has risen up from the war zone are the grasses . ''
Today Pacasum lives with his mother , sister and 13-year-old son in a temporary house on a 10-acre plot of land they own not far from their old neighborhood .
They donated land they were n't using to the government , which built @ @ @ @ @ @ @ house displaced people .
The homes are akin to studio apartments , he says , `` too small for even a family . ''
`` Would have wanted to build faster '' Marawi is a cultural hub in the predominantly Muslim south of the Philippines , which is over 92 % Christian overall .
In 2017 , hundreds of militants swearing allegiance to ISIS launched a surprise takeover of the city .
Philippine security forces fought back , waging ground and air assaults , with military support from the United States , Australia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country 's largest battle since World War II .
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law on the island of Mindanao , and did not lift it until December 2019 — more than a year after he declared Marawi `` liberated . ''
Estimates vary as to how many people are still displaced across Lanao del Sur province , where Marawi is the capital , and the surrounding areas .
Last month , the government said nearly 37,500 families remained displaced by the fighting , while the United Nations refugee agency counted a little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many displacement camps lack basic necessities such as water , electricity and sanitation , says Dahlia Simangan , an assistant professor at the University of Hiroshima who studies peace rebuilding .
She visited Marawi last year .
The pandemic has made life even more difficult .
The strict coronavirus lockdown in the province , suspended public transportation , imposed a curfew and only allows certain people to leave the home for essentials and work , making it difficult especially for displaced people to find employment , she says .
While the Philippines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases overall — the second-highest in Southeast Asia — northern Mindanao has only registered 4,876 .
`` If I were in their shoes , I would also want to return home immediately , '' says Felix Castro Jr. , the assistant secretary with the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development .
He 's also the field office manager for the Task Force Bangon Marawi , a collection of government agencies charged with rebuilding the city , which is estimated to cost up to 80 billion Philippine pesos , or more than $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as clearing the unexploded ordnance and getting permission from landowners to demolish unsafe properties had to be completed before reconstruction could begin .
He also notes that the pandemic is slowing down progress .
`` Right now we 're focused on the infrastructure projects inside the most affected area , '' he says , which includes buildings such as school houses , barangay ( neighborhood ) halls , police stations , fire houses as well as roads and water and electrical systems .
Meanwhile , more than 120 permanent houses of the 3,055 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also under construction .
And Castro says the task force has already identified many of the displaced who will receive one of these homes .
Castro says that while the task force `` would have wanted to build faster , '' it is `` still hoping that we make it on target of 2021 — if not , maybe a little over 2022 , maybe first quarter of 2022 . ''
Outside observers say funding and coordination problems , land disputes and issues with contracts are other reasons the construction is taking so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Conflict Watch , a watchdog group that monitors the ongoing rehabilitation of the city , says while construction has been `` significant '' since the end of 2019 , it is still `` very slow . ''
`` At the moment we do not have any assurance '' that the deadlines will actually be met , she says .
Tawagon is also president of Dansalan College , a Christian school she says was `` turned into rubble and ashes '' after insurgents took it over during the fighting .
She 's been living @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and says she 's unable to return to campus because main utilities like electricity and water still have yet to be reinstalled .
Tawagon blames the delays on `` financial constraints . ''
In a statement on Facebook , the watchdog group said that the 22.2 billion pesos ( $ 457 million ) released so far by the government is a `` dismal amount '' that paints `` a bleak picture for us all . ''
During a news conference on Monday , President Rodrigo Duterte said `` the money is there '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is rebuilt to its former glory . ''
More than just rebuilding While rebuilding buildings is important , `` there also needs to be political and social reconciliation , '' Simangan says .
Transitioning the displaced population to a `` postwar , but normal life '' and involving locals in everything from reconstruction to revitalizing the economy of Marawi is crucial to forging mutual trust with all parties involved .
`` Peace has to be built and owned by the people who lost it in the first place , '' Simangan says .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , '' Jose Antonio Custodio , a Philippines-based military historian and defense analyst , says .
People who feel marginalized following violence may be quick to embrace alternative forms of authority , which Custodio says will lead to the resiliency of terrorist and extremist groups .
There are fears Abu Sayyaf and the Maute group , two ISIS-connected militant groups involved in the siege , could be regrouping .
Containing and ultimately defeating Islamist insurgents in the Philippines is not just important domestically , Custodio says , but to also `` prevent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Islamic militancy to other adjacent countries in the majority Muslim countries in Southeast Asia . ''
The history of terrorist plots hatched in the Philippines is a concern to the United States , too , he notes .
U.S. special forces have been engaged in the southern part of the country since the early 2000s .
So , making sure rehabilitation of Marawi is done correctly is important to all Filipinos because `` it 's not just the battle of Marawi , '' says Simangan .
`` It 's also about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''

Over 120,000 People Remain Displaced 3 Years After Philippines' Marawi Battle
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum
The last time Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum saw his ancestral home standing was three years ago.
The spacious three-story concrete house in his hometown of Marawi, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was built in 1971. Pacasum, a 37-year-old political aide, still remembers the smell of the large living room.
"It had a distinctive old wood smell and visitors sometimes imagine it as a haunted house because of the large painting displayed in the center of the sala [living room]," he says. "I miss it so much."
Pacasum's dreams of living out his life in that house were upended when his neighborhood was devastated in the battle of Marawi — a five-months-long firefight between Philippine government security forces and militant groups affiliated with the Islamic State.
Starting in May 2017, the government forces, with support from the United States and other countries, carried out heavy bombing of the city to drive out the insurgents, leaving Marawi in ruins and more than 1,000 people killed. The United Nations says 98% of Marawi's population of nearly 200,000, as well as others in nearby municipalities, were displaced by the fighting.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
Pacasum says his family wanted to stay in their home. But when rumors began circulating that the area would be bombed, much of the family evacuated the city. His brother, Saripada "Tong" Pacasum, headed the provincial risk management office at the time and stayed behind to help rescue survivors.
The siege ended on Oct. 23, 2017 — but now, three years later, much of the population is still displaced and asking when their city will finally be restored.
The government has since promised to fully rehabilitate the city by late 2021.
Yet, while some reconstruction has started, Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum says, "from the looks of it, the only thing that has risen up from the war zone are the grasses."
Today Pacasum lives with his mother, sister and 13-year-old son in a temporary house on a 10-acre plot of land they own not far from their old neighborhood.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum Mustapha Alauya L. Pacasum
They donated land they weren't using to the government, which built 109 structures with red tin roofs to house displaced people. The homes are akin to studio apartments, he says, "too small for even a family."
"Would have wanted to build faster"
Marawi is a cultural hub in the predominantly Muslim south of the Philippines, which is over 92% Christian overall. In 2017, hundreds of militants swearing allegiance to ISIS launched a surprise takeover of the city. Philippine security forces fought back, waging ground and air assaults, with military support from the United States, Australia and China, in what became the country's largest battle since World War II.
President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law on the island of Mindanao, and did not lift it until December 2019 — more than a year after he declared Marawi "liberated."
Estimates vary as to how many people are still displaced across Lanao del Sur province, where Marawi is the capital, and the surrounding areas. Last month, the government said nearly 37,500 families remained displaced by the fighting, while the United Nations refugee agency counted a little over 25,300 families — almost 127,000 individuals.
Many displacement camps lack basic necessities such as water, electricity and sanitation, says Dahlia Simangan, an assistant professor at the University of Hiroshima who studies peace rebuilding. She visited Marawi last year.
The pandemic has made life even more difficult. The strict coronavirus lockdown in the province, suspended public transportation, imposed a curfew and only allows certain people to leave the home for essentials and work, making it difficult especially for displaced people to find employment, she says. While the Philippines has recorded more than 360,000 confirmed coronavirus cases overall — the second-highest in Southeast Asia — northern Mindanao has only registered 4,876.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jes Aznar/Getty Images Jes Aznar/Getty Images
"If I were in their shoes, I would also want to return home immediately," says Felix Castro Jr., the assistant secretary with the Department of Human Settlement and Urban Development. He's also the field office manager for the Task Force Bangon Marawi, a collection of government agencies charged with rebuilding the city, which is estimated to cost up to 80 billion Philippine pesos, or more than $1.6 billion.
He says steps such as clearing the unexploded ordnance and getting permission from landowners to demolish unsafe properties had to be completed before reconstruction could begin. He also notes that the pandemic is slowing down progress.
"Right now we're focused on the infrastructure projects inside the most affected area," he says, which includes buildings such as school houses, barangay (neighborhood) halls, police stations, fire houses as well as roads and water and electrical systems. Meanwhile, more than 120 permanent houses of the 3,055 the task force plans to build are also under construction. And Castro says the task force has already identified many of the displaced who will receive one of these homes.
Castro says that while the task force "would have wanted to build faster," it is "still hoping that we make it on target of 2021 — if not, maybe a little over 2022, maybe first quarter of 2022."
Outside observers say funding and coordination problems, land disputes and issues with contracts are other reasons the construction is taking so long.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
Fedelinda Tawagon of Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch, a watchdog group that monitors the ongoing rehabilitation of the city, says while construction has been "significant" since the end of 2019, it is still "very slow."
"At the moment we do not have any assurance" that the deadlines will actually be met, she says.
Tawagon is also president of Dansalan College, a Christian school she says was "turned into rubble and ashes" after insurgents took it over during the fighting. She's been living with her son in a nearby city and says she's unable to return to campus because main utilities like electricity and water still have yet to be reinstalled. Tawagon blames the delays on "financial constraints."
In a statement on Facebook, the watchdog group said that the 22.2 billion pesos ($457 million) released so far by the government is a "dismal amount" that paints "a bleak picture for us all." During a news conference on Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte said "the money is there" and promised to spend "until Marawi is rebuilt to its former glory."
More than just rebuilding
While rebuilding buildings is important, "there also needs to be political and social reconciliation," Simangan says. Transitioning the displaced population to a "postwar, but normal life" and involving locals in everything from reconstruction to revitalizing the economy of Marawi is crucial to forging mutual trust with all parties involved.
"Peace has to be built and owned by the people who lost it in the first place," Simangan says.
But the government is "running against time," Jose Antonio Custodio, a Philippines-based military historian and defense analyst, says. People who feel marginalized following violence may be quick to embrace alternative forms of authority, which Custodio says will lead to the resiliency of terrorist and extremist groups. There are fears Abu Sayyaf and the Maute group, two ISIS-connected militant groups involved in the siege, could be regrouping.
Containing and ultimately defeating Islamist insurgents in the Philippines is not just important domestically, Custodio says, but to also "prevent the Philippines from being a staging ground for Islamic militancy to other adjacent countries in the majority Muslim countries in Southeast Asia."
The history of terrorist plots hatched in the Philippines is a concern to the United States, too, he notes. U.S. special forces have been engaged in the southern part of the country since the early 2000s.
So, making sure rehabilitation of Marawi is done correctly is important to all Filipinos because "it's not just the battle of Marawi," says Simangan. "It's also about the whole peace process of the southern Philippines."