Pete Hegseth (3:34)

In many ways, this speech is about fixing decades of decay. Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost our way. We became the woke department, but not anymore.

Tracy Mumford (3:49)

Hundreds of the country's top generals and admirals were brought to Quantico, Virginia yesterday for an address from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump. The highly unusual meeting, which was only called last week, had set off rumors in the military. Officers had wondered if it was going to be about mass firings, a declaration of war on Venezuela, or a loyalty pledge to the president. It ended up being a campaign style event where both Hegseth and Trump criticized the state of the military and ticked through culture war talking points.

Pete Hegseth (4:22)

No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship. As I've said before and will say again, we are done with that shit.

Tracy Mumford (4:37)

Hegseth lectured the group on fitness, grooming and a quote, war fighting mentality, and without presenting any evidence, he said past leadership had lowered military standards to meet arbitrary racial and gender quotas. Hegseth said fixing that was a top priority, claiming the US Military had lost the ability to win wars. President Trump, meanwhile, gave a rambling and sometimes incoherent speech that returned to one of his frequent themes crime in US Cities.

Republican Lawmaker (5:09)

What they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They're very unsafe places and we're going to straighten them out one by one and this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That's a war too.

Tracy Mumford (5:22)

It's a war from within, trump said he told Hegseth the military should use US Cities as training grounds. In all, it was a highly politicized speech to a group of apolitical military commanders. Trump's comments were met with expressionless faces. Senior leadership at the Pentagon had warned the officers in attendance not to react or cheer in keeping with military norms. Some former military officers criticized the event. One retired army major general called out the cost of gathering the military leaders to hear Hegseth quote, brag about how many pull ups he can do and have Donald Trump sleepwalk through a list of partisan gripes. Now three more updates on the Trump administration.

Pete Hegseth (6:14)

The big winner of this deal clearly will be the American pace. There is no doubt about it. They are the ones that will see significant impact in their ability to buy medicines.

Tracy Mumford (6:26)

The CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer joined President Trump at the White House yesterday to announce it had agreed to lower the prices it charges state Medicaid programs for many of the medications it sells. The company also said it will price new drugs released in the US at levels comparable to what it charges countries in the eu. The announcement marked a step forward toward Trump's goal of equalizing prescription drug prices between the US and other wealthy nations where brand name drugs are on average three times cheaper. Senior administration officials said they'd reached similar agreements with other drug manufacturers but did not name them. Also, the White House withdrew its nomination for the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, E.J. antoni. President Trump fired the previous economist who held the spot after claiming the data was rigged when the agency's reports showed weaker hiring numbers. Trump then tapped Antoni, a conservative economist at the Heritage foundation, as her replacement. But economists and other experts from across the political spectrum raised concerns about Antoni's lack of experience and his history of distorting statistics to support political arguments. Last night, the White House confirmed it was withdrawing Antoni's nomination but offered no reason for the sudden change. And a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment by using the threat of deportation to systematically silence foreign students in the US who protested in support of Palestinians. The lawyers who brought the suit argued that the government detaining Mahmoud Khalil, Ramesa Azturk and others had ushered in panic on American college campuses with a chilling effect on academia. In a scathing 161 page opinion, the judge called out the administration's attempts to, quote, strike fear into student protesters and criticized ICE agents who detained some of the students for wearing masks, which he said was a tactic to terrorize Americans into quiescence. Despite the finding, the judge did not immediately block the government from attempting further deportations. He said he would weigh in more after another hearing at a later date. In response to the ruling, a State Department spokesman repeated claims that it had initiated deportations against people who were committing anti American acts or inciting violence and said, we will continue to revoke the visas of those who put the safety of our citizens at risk.

Republican Lawmaker (8:59)

Foreign.

Tracy Mumford (9:05)

California this week, governor Gavin Newsom signed into law, some of the most comprehensive rules in the country for companies who are developing artificial intelligence. The new law requires large tech firms to report what safety protocols they use in building their products and to publicly disclose the greatest risks posed by their technologies. The bill also strengthens whistleblower protections for employees who warn about potential dangers of AI. A previous version of the legislation had required companies to build in a kill switch that would stop the technology, but that was stripped out after a fierce lobbying campaign from the tech industry. Around the country, AI regulations are gaining momentum. This year alone, 38 states passed or enacted their own rules. Major Companies like Meta OpenAI and Google have tried to block that, saying the patchwork of state regulations puts too much of a burden on them. Last month, several Silicon Valley giants pledged up to $200 million to two new super PACs designed to help elect politicians friendly to AI and force out those they consider not supportive enough of the technology. And finally, for a century, Italian cooks have had a go to secret weapon in the kitchen. It's a cookbook packed with more than 2,000 recipes titled the Talisman of Happiness. Basically, if you think about how many American kitchens have a copy of Joy of Cooking in there, same thing. People still remember their grandma's copies that got used so much they're held together with rubber bands. But until now, the masterwork had never been available in English other than a watered down, abridged version from 1950. The cookbook editor who finally made it happen told the Times it took years of irrational behavior and I guess what you might call pure mania. It involved tracking down the great nephew of the original author, Adeboni. He gave his blessing, saying he grew up eating those dishes and remembered seeing his great aunt hunched over a typewriter working on the recipes. He said, quote, it wasn't so much a legacy that she wanted, but the love that was expressed by cooking for your family. Those are the headlines today on the Daily More on the government shutdown, including an interview with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.